Forcing Fluttercord
by Isabella Auditore
Summary: Sequel to 'Begrudged Tolerance is Magic'. Discord and Delta are in Equestria! Well, that's normal for Discord, but poor Delta's a little shaken up. She's not used to the whole 'pony' thing. Until she gets home, she needs something to do. Changing Discord and Fluttershy's relationship seems like a good place to start! But has Delta's arrival caused damage nopony can fix?
1. Chapter 1

_So, at last I can stop using brackets and 'A/N' all the time! All author's notes come directly from me! It's good to be back, and I'm sorry it took this long for the sequel._

_To those of you new to this story and who have no idea what I'm talking about, I suggest reading the previous story, 'Begrudged Tolerance is Magic', for a bit of background. If you insist in reading this without any previous knowledge, I'd warn you - you might get a little confused._

_Okay, so if you read the summary, you've got the general idea. I suppose the next thing to do would be to start the story! Without further adieu, I present 'Forcing Fluttercord', for your enjoyment!_

* * *

Equestria?!

Discord stared at the brown pegasus standing before him. Her blue eyes were wide with a mixture of confusion and alarm. From the way her hooves were splayed out from her centre like a starfish, it was clear she was not used to using four legs. The pegasus' whole body moved in time with her panicked breathing. For the third time since the two creatures' arrival, the pegasus spoke.  
"Discord, why am I a pony?" The mare's tone displayed her panic and confusion perfectly.  
The Lord of Chaos frowned slightly at the pegasus, his eyebrows furrowing. However, instead of staying stationary, the draconequus wound his way around the mare, trying to figure out her situation.  
"I haven't the slightest idea." Discord pulled at the mare's wings, stroking his chin and goatee in turn. "You have certainly taken the complete form of a pegasus, Delta. Right down to the mane on your head." He patted her mane pratronizingly to emphasize his words. The pony- Delta- recoiled in annoyance.  
"Hey, could you _not_?" She snapped, taking a step back. The movement was too sudden, and she found herself stumbling over her hooves.

"Watch it. Don't fall over." Discord caught her with his magic, and then set her down rather roughly, as though to prove that he hadn't meant to catch her.  
"Oof- hey, I'm not used to this! At least let me figure out the controls before tossing me about." Delta grumbled, rolling her shoulders back to ease some of her discomfort. She glanced around at the area, despite the lack of visibility. "But really, why are we here? This doesn't look like my room."  
"Well, I don't know that either." Discord sighed, gazing up at the night sky.  
"What a surprise." Delta muttered, a small smirk on her face as she examined her hooves.  
"Ugh, you're even worse in person." Discord rolled his eyes. "Anyway, this looks like the edge of Ponyville."

Delta stopped her examinations all of a sudden, her body frozen.  
"Did you say _Ponyville_?" She half-whispered, her eyes still fixed on her hooves.  
"Yes, of course I said 'Ponyville'. What, did you think you turned into a pony on Earth?" Discord let out a chuckle at Delta's expense. "Oh come _on_, Human! You struck me as smarter than that." The draconequus paused. "Oh wait, I can't really call you 'Human' anymore, can I? That's gonna take some getting used to."  
Delta finally allowed herself to move. She lifted her head and stared around at the buildings bathed in moonlight. How could she not have recognised the architecture? Of course they were in Ponyville. She'd watched the show enough to know the town like the back of her hand.  
In the distance, a huge shining structure caught her eye. Delta wondered how she could've possibly missed it. From what she'd seen from the Season Four finale, that thing was Princess Twilight's tree-castle-thing.

Delta's breathing hitched all of sudden. She was in _Ponyville_. With the Mane Six. It was like the plot of every 'My Little Pony' fanfiction ever. This time, however, she was _actually here_. A wave of excitement bubbled up inside her like a boiling pot of water. She was almost visibly vibrating from excitement.  
"Uh, Delta? You seem to be a little... shakey." Discord raised an eyebrow at the overly-excited mare.  
"I'm fine. I'm perfect, in fact! Brilliant! Amazing!" Delta burst out laughing in startled amazement. She bounced on the spot, seemingly getting used to her four hooves quicker than she'd expected. With every bounce, her wings fluttered, giving her an extra burst of height. "This is fantastic! I'm actually in Ponyville!" Delta exclaimed.  
"Yes, yes! Now lower the volume before you wake everypony in Equestria with your yelling." Discord hushed the pegasus with his paw enclosed around her muzzle. Her excited mutterings were muffled and significantly lowered in volume until she finally stopped speaking.

Discord removed his paw and recoiled in disgust at the pegasus.  
"Euughh! You _licked_ me!" The King of Chaos wailed in horror, waving his paw in the air, trying desperately to get rid of it. With his claw, he seemed to unscrew his paw and then threw it away. It exploded silently in the distance. With a shudder, Discord dug his claw into an invisible pocket and pulled out a new paw. The replacement screwed back on automatically.  
Delta watched the whole scene with amusement, but eventually her smile faded away to a frown.  
"I'm going to go find Twilight." She muttered, mostly to herself.  
"What- why?" Discord frowned, winding his way around the pegasus again.  
"If I'm ever going to go home, she's the only pony that can help me." Delta hopped over one of Discord's coils and began to trot toward the tree-castle and into Ponyville.  
"But- what about me? I managed to get to Earth once, I'm sure I could do it again!" Discord began to follow her into the town.  
"Exactly. It's your fault I'm here. I'm going to a more _reliable_ source of information." Delta explained calmly, ignoring Discord's attempts to dissuade her.  
"Are you saying I'm unreliable?" The draconequus feigned offence at Delta's words.

"_Yes!_" Delta stopped moving, her voice rising. "Yes, that is what I'm saying. You are possibly the most _unreliable_ creature on this planet! You probably couldn't even find the book you got the spell from again, if your life depended on it! Well guess what: my life _does_ depend on it, Discord. My life depends on me finding the right way to get home. Otherwise, I'll be stuck here. I have a whole 'nother life waiting for me back home. If you mess up the spell again, all that gets thrown away. So I'm going to see Twilight."  
Delta began to trot away again. This time, Discord did not follow straight away. He paused, allowing the pegasus' words to sink in. At first, he felt anger. How _dare_ she accuse him of being unreliable? It was _her_ fault she was here, anyway! If she hadn't interfered with his arrival, he'd be wreaking chaos on Earth about now.  
Slowly, Discord's anger dissolved away. It was replaced quickly by guilt. If he'd never tried to get to Earth, Delta wouldn't have ended up stuck in Ponyville. It really _was_ his fault. He hadn't paid attention to the dangers involved with the spell, and now she was as good as dead back on Earth. Unless Twilight could help, of course.  
Slowly, the guilt-stricken Discord began following Delta to the centre of Ponyville.

In Canterlot, Princess Luna was surveying the grounds of the castle. She was soaring high above the turrets, her wings brushing against the clouds that shone in her moon's light. There was something soothing in flying at night. It was as beautiful as ever, in her opinion. She knew now that many ponies admired her night. Even as she flew, she could feel their thoughts. The Princess couldn't hear them, but the fact that she could feel their admiration was enough.  
The Lunar Princess swooped down past her sister's bedroom, making sure her shadow was outlined by moonlight. She knew Celestia was fast asleep, but just knowing that she was there comforted the youngest sister. That if Celestia had awoken, she would've seen her sister and calmed down. As Princess of the Night, it was Luna's job to guard her subjects. During her sleeping hours, that included Celestia.  
Suddenly, a strange sensation sent Luna reeling. She lost control of her flight for a moment, but quickly fluttered down to a rest on one of the castle's many towers. The Princess was confused for a moment, before she regained her senses and allowed herself to examine what had caused the sensation.  
Luna closed her eyes and sent her mind far out, in search of the origin of her strange feeling.  
The Princess' eyes flew open and she gasped in shock. She wavered for a moment from the revalation.  
What she had sensed... it was unlike anything she'd ever felt. It was a surge of magic so powerful that she felt a tear in the very fabric of the world. It was as though somepony had literally taken a knife and sliced a section of the world open. It was a small section, but it had still taken an enormous amount of magical energy. The resulting energy release was unbelievable. The blue alicorn felt herself grow ever more worried. She ought to tell Celestia.  
However... her sister was still sleeping. Whatever it was could wait until the Sun Princess awoke. The magical tear seemed to be closing over, anyway. It would be fine in a few seconds.  
Luna's concern dissolved alongside the residual energy from the tear. Soon, she was back to soaring around the castle, guarding her subjects in their sleep.

* * *

_Well? Did you enjoy chapter one of the sequel? If you hated it, feel free to tell me! Eheheh... either way, I hope you enjoyed it. More to come tomorrow! _  
_Oh, and I may be considering posting some Discord-related shorts to my Tumblr. If I do, I'll give you guys my URL! Otherwise, it's pointless since all I ever post is things to do with fandoms and shipping. Pretty dull, if you ask me. Anyway, see you all next time!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Okay, so I have to say how much I love you guys. Whether you're a silent stalker or a reviewer (thanks, The Supreme Slurpinator!), you're the greatest. I appreciate any and all readers. I don't care how well this story does - as long as I'm making at least one person- or pony- happy, I'm happy. Cheese aside, I should probably get to the story._

_Well, here's chapter two! Enjoy!_

* * *

Twilight-Time

Delta made her way through the streets of Ponyville, taking in all the sights and sounds of the town at night. Despite her anger towards Discord, she couldn't help but admire the place she'd once longed to visit. The dirt roads were compacted from generations of hooves trotting along the same pathway. From the buildings and the calm silence that held the small town, Delta felt a serenity she hadn't felt in a very long time. It almost was like her very presence intruded on the residents' exclusive peace, but at the same time, she felt accepted into the fold.  
A soft noise from behind her reminded her that Discord was following. She sighed internally, but decided not to confront him. Instead, she contented herself with remembering all the locations she could from the show.  
_Over there was where the Market was in 'Putting your Hoof Down'._ Delta smiled, remembering Pinkie's Buggs Bunny trick. It was weird thinking that she was in the same place as a pony who could break the fourth wall without much effort. She wondered if Pinkie actually knew about viewers and bronies.

Finally, the tree-castle came fully into view. Delta gaped up at the towering structure and wondered for the millionth time why the magic box had created a castle. Suddenly, her excitement returned. Only parts of the interior of the castle had been shown in the finale. If Delta got to go inside, she'd be the first person- er, sort of- to see the inside completely! She'd know the layout before any other brony. That'd give her some serious bragging rights.  
Then she remembered she might never get home to brag about such things, and Delta's excitement faded.  
Determination seizing her once again, Delta marched up to the doors of the Castle of Friendship. She raised a hoof to knock on the door, but paused. A frown furrowed her face. Delta needed to get her story straight in her head. There was no point going to Twilight, raving and rambling about being from another world. She could end up in the local hospital, right next to Screw Loose, the dog-pony! Delta sighed again, allowing her mind to calm down. She was Delta, or Kathryn, a human from Earth who was never supposed to end up in Equestria. That wouldn't be too far a stretch for the Purple One, since she'd been in _Equestria Girls_ and had seen humans(-ish) first hand.

Before Delta had mustered up enough courage to knock at last, the door swung open. Delta stood in the opening, dumbfounded and still holding her hoof up. On the other side of the doorway was a sleepy-looking purple dragon. Spike yawned, rubbing his eyes in tiredness.  
"What's-" He was interrupted by another yawn. "What's wrong?" The dragon frowned up at the brown pegasus, bleary-eyed and confused. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I know you."  
"Oh! Um, well... I'm new to town. I was wondering if I could talk to Tw- to _Princess_ Twilight?" Delta struggled, trying to remain calm. After all, she was meeting _Spike_! She wondered why he'd answered the door even though she hadn't knocked.  
"Well, Twilight's kinda busy at the moment. She's tracking some shooting stars upstairs. Besides, not just anypony can wander in looking for Twilight." Spike replied sleepily. He bit back yet another yawn.  
Delta held back the retort that she _wasn't_ 'just anypony'. Instead, she glanced past Spike worriedly.  
"But, y'see... it's kind of an emergency." She explained, unwilling to give him any more details until she was allowed in to see Twilight.

"Sorry, but I can't just let you in. Twilight'll be getting her own Royal Guard soon, so maybe when they have protocals or whatever, they might let you in." Spike sighed. His sleepy eyes slid past Delta to something behind her. He yawned and half-smiled at the new shape. "Oh, hey Discord."  
"Ah, Spike. Hello. I see you've met my... _friend_, Delta." Discord rested his paw and claw on Delta's shoulders, much to her annoyance. She didn't like his emphasis on the word 'friend', either. "We were just about to visit Twilight, if that's alright with you? We'll only be a second, promise!" Discord explained. His charming tone clearly worked on the sleepy dragon, since he nodded and yawned again.  
"Yeah, sure. Try not to disturb her, though." Spike moved out of the way to let the two creatures in. When a bright flash told him they'd teleported, he grumbled something about being 'too tired for this' and closed the door.

The castle's observatory was a wide open room, with one section of wall missing to allow the night sky in. A pink shimmer just outside the gap was a little of Twilight's magic, dedicated to a weather-guard while the section was open.  
Delta stumbled as her mind reeled from being teleported. Her earlier headache returned, making her head thud along to her heartbeat. She crashed headfirst into a pile of astronomy books stacked by a shelf, which certainly did not improve her headache. In pain and generally very annoyed, Delta struggled to climb out of the collection of paper, feathers and hooves she had gotten herself into.  
Twilight was alerted to the presence of the two newcomers by Delta's loud but mild cursing. It consisted mostly of words like 'fudge' and 'flip'.  
"Oh, are you okay?" Twilight teleported to the pile of books and lifted them off with ease using her magic. The Princess glanced up and quickly spotted Discord, who was hovering awkwardly near the edge of the room. Twilight frowned. She hadn't seen Discord act guilty in a while, so was instantly suspicious. Her attention turned back to the new pegasus after a moment.

"I'm fine, I suppose..." Delta grumbled, before glancing up and spotting the Princess of Friendship. Delta's eyes widened in shock and she lowered herself in respect. "P-Princess Twilight, I'm so sorry!"  
Twilight sighed and smiled at the mare.  
"No need to worry. I know not everypony is used to teleportation." The Princess glared at Discord, who lowered his ears guiltily. "Now, would you mind explaining just why you're here?"  
"R-right. Um, well..." Delta began, completely forgetting her explanation.  
"Actually, it's my fault." Discord spoke at last, taking a few steps forward. Twilight was still suspicious about the draconequus' guilt, but was willing to hear the explanation.  
"Go on." Twilight prompted, taking on an official tone.  
"Well, I used a spell to try to get to Earth, which is this planet covered with two-legged things called humans that watch our lives like a TV show. The spell backfired and pulled Delta here with me back through nothingness and ended up here. Except Delta is now a pegasus. Also, she wants to go home." Discord explained, finishing it off with a guilty smile.

Twilight watched Delta's reaction to all this. When the pegasus seemed willing to accept the story as the truth, Twilight closed her eyes.  
"Did you by any chance come through a mirror?" The alicorn asked once she opened her eyes again.  
"No... why? Is that important?" Discord responded with a question.  
Twilight frowned and began to pace the floor.  
"Please, Princess. Um... this is going to sound weird, but-" Delta began.  
"Wait, did you say she watched our lives like a 'TV show'?" The Princess interrupted and spun around to face the Lord of Chaos. "What's a TV show?"

After Delta and Discord explained the basics of electricity and television, they went on to tell Twilight about 'My Little Pony'. Delta made the unfortunate mistake of mentioning that actually, she first saw it on YouTube. That meant the duo had to explain the internet, and by now Twilight was loving the sound of Earth. She realised that during her stay in the alternate world, she'd only seen part of the many wonders available to the humans.  
It shocked Twilight a little when she heard about her life being shown to millions of people on another planet, like it was just a joke. It was weird and a little disturbing, but the duo reassured her it wasn't constant. It was mostly when big, important things happened.

"So, what you're saying is that you know a whole lot about my life." Twilight spoke slowly, trying to come to terms with it for about the millionth time.  
"And your friends." Delta interjected.  
"And my friends. Great." Twilight sighed. The alicorn sat down, staring at nothing. Finally, she glanced up at Discord, her suspicion returning. "Why did you try to get to Earth?"  
"Ahh, um... well, I, uh..." Discord began, letting his voice lower until it was inaudible. When Discord failed to respond clearly, Twilight turned her disapproving glare on Delta.  
"Do _you_ know why?" She demanded. Delta shrunk under the Princess' authority.  
"Um, it was... I... uh, curiosity?" The pegasus' voice rose at the end of the sentence, making it sound like a question. Delta really had no idea why she was defending Discord, especially after all he'd done.

Twilight chose not to persue the matter any further. Instead, she turned an uneasy eye on the duo and turned away. She made her way back over to her telescope and the pile of open books splayed all around it. Delta and Discord shared a confused glance, but stayed silent.  
"Discord. I'm putting Delta's wellbeing in your care. You are hereby responsible for her every action. No offence, Delta, but it's his fault you're here, so he should be the one to look after you." Twilight announced, scribbling something in a notebook.  
"Look after-?! Twilight, with respect, I am old enough to take care of _myself_. I don't need his help!" Delta snapped.  
"That's great, but if you cause a disturbance in town, somepony has to take responsibility for it. That's why I named Discord. Until we figure out a way to get you home, he'll be responsible for feeding you and keeping you in decent condition." Twilight explained, twirling a dial on the telescope and examining the results.

Delta muttered under her breath about not being a collectible toy, unlike _somepony_, and was rewarded by a silencing glare from the King of Chaos. When she stopped speaking, however, he allowed a tiny smirk to move the corners of his mouth.  
"Very well, Princess. We'll be seeing you shortly, I hope." Discord scooped his paw under Delta and plucked her from the ground. She squirmed in annoyance at first, but gave up after about a second. She knew what was coming, and her stomach churned.  
_Next time, I'll get Spike to warn me about who my visitors are_. The alicorn thought.  
There was a bright flash, and Twilight was left alone in her observatory, just in time to catch the last few of the falling stars.

* * *

_So that was chapter two! Nothing much happened, I know, but I want this story to go on a little longer than 'BTiS'. That being said, if I need to speed things up I will. Any ideas for subplots will be considered and most likely added. _  
_Thanks for reading! See y'all next time!_


	3. Chapter 3

_'BTiM', yes. Thanks! :3_  
_Oooh, so I mentioned last time how much I love you guys. I have nothing so poetic this time, but if you want a poem, I could write one! Umm... maybe not. How about I stop stalling and get to story-time? Yeah? Yeah. Good._  
_It feels so weird writing Delta as such a snippy character. She was originally my ponysona, but I guess something happened along the way to Equestria... Oh well! Enjoy Chapter 3!_

* * *

Intruding

Delta's stomach churned sickeningly when the duo finally arrived at whatever destination Discord had chosen. Her head pounded painfully, making her ears ring, which really did not help the situation of trying to figure out where in Equestria she was.  
Discord's paw moved away from her as she was set down on the ground.  
"Why did we have to teleport..?" Delta groaned, holding her head with a hoof.  
"Shh!" Discord hissed pressing a claw to his lips. He glanced around at the darkened room, searching for something Delta couldn't see.  
"Where are we anyway?" The pegasus grumbled, a little quieter this time. She could only see silhouettes of furniture scattered about the darkened room, but from the menagerie of sleeping noises, she came to one final conclusion. "Wait, never mind. Are we at Fluttershy's cottage?"

Discord responded by zipping Delta's mouth closed. Wide-eyed and suddenly very alarmed, Delta pawed uselessly at her mouth with her hooves. It would not open. Her muffled shouts and cries were significantly lower than they should've been, which only increased her alarm.  
"Oh shush, would you?" Discord snarled quietly. The annoyance in his tone made Delta's noises fade out. "_Thank_ you. If we wake Fluttershy, that's on _your_ head." Delta's muffled response had a vague recollection to a wolf-whistle. Discord reacted by sighing and shaking his head. He _was_ going to turn her into a squirrel, but he was too busy listening for Fluttershy. When no sounds came from upstairs, he figured the yellow pegasus was still sleeping.  
"Okay, so you'll be sleeping on the floor. I'm taking the couch." Discord whispered, teleporting himself onto the silhouette in the corner of the room. "Night-night!" The draconequus sung quietly.

Delta sighed and made her way over to what she felt to be a rug. Her mouth still zipped shut, the blue-maned mare settled herself down on the surprisingly comfortable rug. It seemed to hold the smell of the woodland, which was rather comforting. Delta really had no intention of sleeping. She was too caught up in the idea that her friends and family probably had no idea where she was. No matter what was going on here, back on Earth she was hurting a lot of people by dissapearing. She tried imagining how she'd feel if her sister had vanished, but all that made her think of was her sister's trip abroad. Delta's sister had been planning a holiday with her boyfriend, but with Delta's disappearance, the whole thing might've been put on hold. She sincerely hoped it hadn't.  
She tried not to recall her mother's situation, since she did want to keep some scrap of her sanity.  
Delta later couldn't remember the exact moment she'd fallen alseep.

"Oh my!" A soft voice cried out in shock. Delta scrambled to her hooves, intent on explaining why she was there and who had brought her, but when her mouth wouldn't work, she contented herself with at least finding the source of the voice.  
The room, which was clearly Fluttershy's living room, was bathed in early sunlight. It took Delta a moment to spot the startled form of Discord stretched out across the couch. The draconequus was awake and staring at something behind Delta.  
"Fluttershy, my dear! I'm so sorry to startle you like this." Discord was up from the couch in an instant. His change in attitude in Fluttershy's presence was like a lightswitch. He was instantly sweeter and his voice took on a vaguely meek tone. Delta's inner shipper squealed, but her inability to speak stopped her from externalising the noise.  
"Oh, it-it's not a problem. I love it when you visit! I just... um... who are you?" The question-part of Fluttershy's statement was directed at Delta, who just stared at Fluttershy for a moment.

Delta's mind flew back to Season One, Episode One. Fluttershy had been so shy back then. She'd been unable to introduce herself to Twilight. The development of the little yellow pegasus had been monumental, when she took all four seasons into account. Since Delta herself couldn't speak, she allowed herself a little more time to admire her favourite pony.  
"Oh, right." Discord snapped his claws and Delta's mouth unzipped. The brown pegasus gasped in relief.  
"Thank Celestia... Um, hi. I'm Delta." Delta smiled awkwardly, still a little starstruck.  
"I see. Uh, could you maybe, um, explain a little more? If that's okay?" Fluttershy asked.  
"I believe that's where I step in, my dear." Discord sighed. "Well, in short, Delta here is the result of a spell-gone-wrong on my part, so Twilight told me I had to look after her temporarily. I didn't know where else to turn, so I thought maybe you'd understand..."

Fluttershy looked instantly brighter, for some reason. Again, Delta's shipper-self got to working away at theories, like _jealousy_.  
"Oh, of course! I understand completely." Fluttershy beamed at Discord, who looked just about ready to explode from cuteness exposure. Delta had a hard time keeping it together herself. "If you don't mind me asking, why did Twilight say you should look after her? It doesn't really make sense." Fluttershy asked, trotting over to a little family of birds who had landed on the windowsill. She pulled a bag of birdseed open with her teeth and used a scoop to lift some of the birdseed up to the hungry avians.  
"Well, I used to be human. Twilight might've described them to you after her trip through the mirror." Delta began. "Basically, Discord's mistake meant I was dragged from my world to your world."  
"She has only a basic knowledge of proper pony behavior, so Twilight named me responsible for her every action. Until she goes home, I have to look after her." Discord concluded.  
"And I also know you and your friends pretty well." Delta added as an afterthought.  
"Maybe we should leave out the whole 'TV show' thing for now..." Discord muttered, just loud enough for Delta to hear.

"Oh right. Um, scratch that last part. And the bit about the mirror, now that I think about it. In fact, can we just start this over? Hi, I'm Delta. Dissy here's been named- in essence- as my guardian until I can get home. I slept on your floor last night. Sorry about that, by the way, but it's surprisingly comfortable." Delta explained quickly, a weak grin plastered on her face.  
"Also, would you mind terribly if we stayed here for a while, _mon ami_?" The King of Chaos asked.  
"Oh... um..." Fluttershy paused, her eyes flitting between Discord and Delta. "...Okay?"  
"Oh, thank you my dear!" Discord exclaimed, suddenly right beside the yellow pegasus. He picked her up without hesitation and hugged her.  
Delta stared at the two creatures with a smirk, suddenly wishing she could contact Princess Cadance. The brown pegasus noticed the pink tinge to the surprised Fluttershy's cheeks with ease, but chose to say nothing.

After the hug stretched on for another few seconds, Delta resisted the urge to comment pretty well. She contented herself with clearing her throat loudly, which finally broke the two creatures apart.  
"Thank you, Fluttershy." Discord smiled again.  
"It's not a problem." Fluttershy held his gaze for a moment longer, before her stomach grumbled. She blushed in embarassment and glanced at Delta, who still had the stupid smirk twisting her mouth. "I suppose we should have breakfast. Is there anything in particular you'd like?"  
"Don't worry yourself with feeding her, m'lady. She's my burden, so I'll deal with that." Discord sighed.  
"Burden?!" Delta hissed under her breath, glaring at the draconequus.  
"Discord! That is no way to treat a guest. You may be responsible for her, but that doesn't mean you can't show a little kindness." Fluttershy scolded.

"Yes, right. I'm sorry, Delta." Discord apologised. When Fluttershy turned away, the two creatures stuck their tongues out at one another.  
"Now, the kitchen is this way." Fluttershy led the duo through a doorway in the livingroom into the kitchen. She directed them toward the table and they sat down. Delta found herself admiring Lyra's dedication to her way of sitting, since Delta could only sit like a pony in this form.  
"What would you like to eat?" Fluttershy asked with a sweet smile. "I'm afraid I don't have too much at the moment, but I hope I can at least give you something nice."  
"Well I'm sure whatever you have to offer would be perfect." Delta replied, suddenly finding herself craving bacon. However, as a herbivore, bacon was out of the question. So were sausages, burgers, spicy chicken wings, and fillet steaks smothered in black pepper sauce-  
Her carnivorous appetite was getting out of hoof.

Fluttershy paused, allowing herself time to think.  
"Would a dandelion sandwich be okay, Delta?" The pink-maned mare asked.  
"Um, perfect! Thanks." Delta smiled, wondering what in Equestria a dandelion sandwich was like.

* * *

_Not a sandwich cliffhanger! Nooo! Will we ever find out if the dandelion sandwich was nice? How will Delta react to this new vegetarian diet? Will she be able to cope without bacon?! Tune in next week to find out! Or, y'know, tomorrow. I don't know._  
_Could you tell I was hungry?_  
_If you ever wanna know just how weird I am, just remember I wrote this chapter listening to the official 'Star Wars' soundtrack while eating Cinnamon and Raisin bagels dipped in Nutella at 2AM. Yum yum. (Never feed me after midnight, you fool! You've doomed us all!)_  
_See y'all next time! :D_


	4. Chapter 4

_What's with my strange obsession with 'oh', 'okay' and sighing? *Sigh* Oh well. Okay, on to writing I guess. Sorry, I'm a little on the sad-side since I found out I won't be going to Finland. The funny thing is I'm not upset about that. No, I'm upset with myself because I'm upset about a little trip abroad. _  
_Getting outta the deep n' dark stuff there- since I prefer happy things- I'm gonna continue with the story! How 'bout that? Everypony SMILE! :D_  
_(And 'The Fallen'- I would do that, but I can't get into the habit of writing like that. It feels... _wrong_, for some reason. I know it looks better on sites like this, but... ehh. It was grand when it was the mix of _normal_ and _**bold**_, but otherwise... Thanks anyway, though!)_

* * *

Sudden Jump-Cut of Convenience!

It had been a few days since Delta first arrived in Equestria. So far, nothing extraordinary had happened. She'd been upgraded to Fluttershy's spare room since her first night, which was great. What wasn't so great was Discord's troll-y nature. The draconequus had woken her up way too early two days in a row already, with stupid gags like turning her bed into a cage, or into- literally- a bed of nails. It wasn't half as painful as she would've thought, what with the weight displacement. Delta was keeping her silence for now, but she knew the second it got out of hoof, she'd tell Fluttershy. The 'jokes' were just jokes for now, luckily.  
It still shocked her when she woke up one morning with a spider dangling just above her face. The resulting scream woke the whole cottage.

The other two occupants arrived by two different methods. Fluttershy hurried through the door and Discord teleported in with a flash.  
"Oh goodness, are you okay?" Fluttershy trotted over to the traumatized-looking mare huddled on the ground beside her bed.  
"Why did you scream?" Discord grumbled. He seemed to be showing concern grudgingly, like the very emotion was a chore he had to bear. "It woke half of Equestria, so it better be good."  
It took the brown pegasus a moment to gather her strength. When she did, Delta glared at Discord.  
"Like _you_ don't know!" The shaken mare snapped.  
"_Moi_?" Discord looked taken aback. "Why would _I_ know?"

Fluttershy frowned to herself, then turned to glance at Discord.  
"Did you play a trick on Delta?" She asked calmly.  
"What- no! Of course not!" Discord looked genuinely shocked at the veiled accusation. Fluttershy held his gaze firmly, determined to figure out what was going on. The draconequus glanced away, unable to keep up the eye contact. "Well, I might've pulled a _few_ pranks. Nothing today, anyway." When Fluttershy still looked a little doubtful, he was forced to confess. "Okay, I'd planned to give her breakfast legs and make it run away, but I didn't do anything yet!"  
Fluttershy exhaled slowly, but smiled.  
"Thank you for being honest." Her smile grew a little when she saw his guilty expression.

Meanwhile, Delta was torn between two emotions. One, she was annoyed with Discord for getting away with his tricks so easily. On the other hoof, she was way too happy that Discord had gotten away with it so easily. She didn't want to be the cause of the two creatures falling out, so anything they got over quickly was good.  
At the same time, she wanted to yell at Discord for being so annoying with his pranks and generally chaotic nature.  
In the end, Delta just sighed.  
"Uh, Fluttershy, can you talk to spiders?" The ex-human asked.  
"I can certainly _communicate_ with spiders, but I wouldn't really call it talking." Fluttershy paused, glancing at the slowly recovering pegasus. "Why? Did a spider do this to you?"  
Delta nodded meekly, quite clearly embarassed.

Discord muttered something to himself with a smirk. Delta suddenly didn't like the fact he knew one of her fears.  
"Don't be embarassed, Delta! Everypony has fears. I don't like dragons. Or crowds. Or, um... lots of things, really." Fluttershy soothed with a smile. "If you want, I could ask the spiders in your room to stay away from you."  
"Uh, that'd be great, Fluttershy." Delta smiled gratefully at the yellow mare. "Thanks."

**o.O.o**

"Ugh, these wings are _useless_!" Delta cried, stretching out the coffe-brown wings attached to her. "They do _absolutely nothing_ I tell them to!"  
"You appear to be stretching them out without much effort, though." Discord offered helpfully, examining the back of his claw while floating effortlessly in the air.  
Fluttershy ignored Discord's comment and tried to coax Delta back into the air. The brown pegasus began to flap her wings, successfully getting her hooves off the ground.  
"That's it..." Fluttershy encouraged as Delta rose higher into the air. "Just ascend slowly. Don't overdo it."

Delta had her whole mind focused on getting up into the air. She was getting better at it, but when a strong breeze pushed her a little off course, she lost her concentration. After a second of mid-air flailing, Delta toppled out of the sky and 'landed' with a thud on the unforgivingly painful ground.  
After flying over and confirming Delta's lack of severe injury, Fluttershy sighed.  
"Oh, I don't know..." The yellow pegasus glanced away. "I don't think I'm the right pony to teach you how to fly."  
Delta grunted as she attempted to stand up on all four hooves. Her face contorted a little, but after a second, she was seeminly fine.  
"You're the only pony for the job." Delta smiled. "Besides, I don't want _him_ teaching me how to fly." She gestured to Discord, who looked mildly offened.

"Well, it's just that... My friend Rainbow Dash is a much stronger flier than I am." Fluttershy pointed out, landing softly beside the other pegasus. Delta resisted the urge to say 'I know', and just smiled along. "She taught Twilight the basics, and she even helped me to fly better. I'm sure if we explained your circumstance, she'd be more than happy to help."  
Delta pretended to mull it over for a moment.  
"If you think she'd be alright with it, then I trust your judgement." Delta smiled. Internally, however, she was having a tiny fangirling session. She was going to meet _Rainbow Dash_! She'd already met two of the Mane Six, and now she'd get to see a third. It was every brony's dream!

"Oh good, we get to explain the situation _again_." Discord grumbled, suddenly right beside Delta's ear.  
"Yeah, well Rainbow is hardly going to believe I'm just some random pegasus that wants to learn how to fly. People- or even ponies- don't just turn into pegasi at random!" Delta replied quietly to what she realised was the floating bodyless head of the draconequus. "Also, stop stealing my ideas."  
"But darling, I thought the whole point of the chaotic stories was to give me ideas!" Discord responded innocently, floating to Delta's other ear. The brown pegasus pulled away.  
"It looks like you haven't lost your lack sympathy for personal space." Delta sighed. "And yes, ideas for when you took over _Earth_. That didn't exactly happen, did it now?"  
"No, and whose fault was that?" Discord spoke in a quiet sing-song voice.  
"Yours." Delta replied flatly.

* * *

_So yeah. That was chapter four for ya. Hopefully some more stuff will kick off shortly. I have a plan, and you've probably all guessed it. Heheh, most of it anyway. Okay, a huge chunk of it._  
_...Alright, so I need to think up something devastatingly twisted- worthy of shocking you all!Hahah... aHAHahah... mwahAHAHAHAHAAA!_  
_Yes. Good. Right. Um. See y'all next time!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Um, can I just say how flattered I am to be compared to brilliant people like Disneyfanatic, iheartkimpossible and yum soda... I'll never be that Horse Famous, but it's great to dream! :D_

_Kay, I know I always start these things out a little, uh, 'differently', but I thought today would be even more... different? I don't know, really. Half the time I type as though I'm actually talking, and that just leads to English failiures. I truly apologise. _  
_However, this time I wanted to talk about Tumblr. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, so I'll do all the actual talking after the update. Okay? Okay._  
_...Waah! I didn't mean to do that! D:_  
_Anyways, on to chapter five already!_

* * *

Cupcakes and Crashes

Rainbow Dash sighed and rubbed her face with her hoof.  
"Let's try that one more time, okay?" The cyan pegasus' voice was surprisingly patient for one who had to put up with not only Delta's constant failure, but Fluttershy's quiet cheering and Discord's thinly veiled jabs and insults. The trio of creatures had a way of grinding on Rainbow's gears that really, _really_ irritated her. Fluttershy was her friend, though, so she didn't want to let her down. Any friend of Fluttershy's was a friend of Dash. Even the strange outsider who claimed to be from another world.  
Over the last two days, Dash hadn't seen the trio separated. It was a little weird to her, but she supposed it was fine.

Something about the new kid's closeness to Discord really unnerved her, though. It freaked her out to think that maybe Discord was lying, and he'd just created this pony to cause havoc.  
Her theory was backed up when Delta almost crashed headfirst into a tree. She'd been learning to fly for a couple days now, according to Fluttershy, yet she was still crashing into things. The only progress she'd made was that sometimes she flew pretty fast. Nowhere close to how fast Dash was as a young filly, but still fast enough to show some potential.  
So far, this time Delta was doing pretty well. She kept up a constant speed and height, and was surprisingly missing every tree she'd already crashed into.

"Good going, kid." Rainbow acknowledged with a tip of her trainer's cap. She didn't know why she was calling the mare 'kid', but she was hardly gonna call her by her real name. It just didn't match her at all. What was a 'Delta', and what did it have to do with pocket watches? Why did a non-unicorn have a pocket watch cutie mark in the first place? Did she make them? Did she collect them? Did she wind them?  
Rainbow was suddenly really glad this pony hadn't been born in Equestria. How she'd ever find _that_ cutie mark was beyond her.  
So until Rainbow came up with a suitable nickname, 'kid' it was.

To end her flight on a strong note, Delta began to slow down and descend. Her wing flaps became lighter and more frequent to slow down as she came closer to the ground.  
Finally, her hooves met with the ground and the brown pegasus folded her wings away.  
"Woohoo!" Fluttershy cheered quietly. "Way to go, Delta!"  
"Yes, good job, Human." Discord grumbled, waving a little flag with Delta's crudely drawn face on it. The draconequus was clearly very bored and was floating just above the ground. Discord had since given up the tedious task of not calling Delta 'Human'. It was just too difficult for him, apparently.

"Thanks, guys." Delta pawed at the ground with her hoof a little awkwardly. She was unused to praise, and usually reacted in one of two ways- fake obnoxiousness or general shyness.  
"You did well just now." Rainbow Dash complimented the poor flier. "But that's just the start. You've got a long way to go. Still, I think it's time for a break."  
"I know I do. Thanks, Rainbow." Delta smiled, internally wondering how her past-self would've reacted to knowing she'd be given flying lessons from Rainbow Dash.  
"I know! How about lunch at Sugarcube Corner? My treat!" Fluttershy suggested. Instantly, everypony brightened up.  
"Oooh, can I go as Twister?" Discord asked, his eyes wide and full of hope. "Pretty pretty pleeeease?"

So, the four _ponies_ made their way through Ponyville towards Sugarcube Corner. Delta found Discord's ponified form a little disturbing, since he kept his crazy red-yellow eyes. However, it drew less attention to the group, so Delta was happy about that. The residents of Ponyville were used to Discord by this point, but he was still a hard creature to forget. Some ponies clearly hadn't forgiven him for trying to take over Equestria and still held a grudge. To most ponies, that was completely reasonable. They didn't yet have a reason to trust him, so of course they had their worries.  
Even though three of the four ponies were pegasi, only Rainbow Dash decided to fly. Delta still didn't trust herself to fly through a crowded town, while Fluttershy was just more used to walking around.

Eventually, the three pegasi and the unicorn arrived at the colourful place known as Sugarcube Corner. They entered, and before Delta was given a chance to appreciate the interior of a place she'd only seen on a screen, the four ponies were suddenly face-to-face with a pink blur.  
"Omigosh! Hi Rainbow Dash! Hi Fluttershy! Hi Discord! And-" The high-pitched voice, belonging to the pink blur, paused to gasp. "You're somepony new! I don't know you! Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! I guess you've already met Rainbow, Fluttershy and Discord! But, how could you have met Rainbow, Fluttershy and Discord but not me?! Were you guys hiding the new pony from me? How could you do that? I though we were friends! Oh, never mind! I couldn't stay mad at you. Did I mention my name was Pinkie Pie? Oh yeah, I did. Silly me! Anyway, welcome to Sugarcube Corner! I'd welcome you to Ponyville, but I figured Rainbow, Fluttershy and Discord already did that. You did welcome her, right guys? I hope so. Just in case they didn't, welcome to Ponyville! I'm Pinkie Pie!" The pink blur slowed down just enough so Delta could make out the general shape of a pony. Pinkie Pie giggled. "Oops, I guess I introduced myself three times! What's your name?"

Delta stared at Pinkie for a moment, letting the waves of second-hand excitement wash over her. She recognised this as the point when most other ponies would back away in terror. Instead, Delta just caught Pinkie's infectiously wide smile.  
"Hi, Pinkie Pie! I'm Delta." The brown pegasus beamed.  
Pinkie's smile faltered a little and she leaned over to whisper something in Rainbow Dash's ear.  
"Because you introduced yourself three times, you crazy mare!" Rainbow chuckled at Pinkie's hushed words.  
"Oh yeah, I forgot!" Pinkie giggled. The pink mare turned back to Delta. "So, when did you get to Ponyville, Delta?"  
"Almost a week ago, I think. Yeah, six days." Delta replied with a smile. She couldn't _not_ smile in Pinkie's presence.

Pinkie gasped again.  
"You've been in Ponyville for six whole days and I didn't get to meet you? Who else did you meet then?" The earth pony frowned.  
"Just these three, plus Twilight and Spike." Delta gestured to the three ponies around her.  
"You met _Twilight and Spike_ too? Oh my gosh... I have to throw you a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party right away! You're going to love being in Ponyville! How long are you staying?" Pinkie asked, almost vibrating in place.  
"Well, I don't really know..." Delta began.  
"Listen, Pinkie, how about we get some lunch and then we'll tell you all about it. Okay?" Rainbow interrupted. "We're pretty hungry here, and if I know you at all, we'll end up standing here talking forever."  
"Oh, right. Okay!" Pinkie giggled.

The five ponies sat around a table in Sugarcube Corner, finishing off their respective lunches. Naturally, Pinkie and 'Twister' went for the unconventional choice of cupcakes and chocolate milk. Dash went slightly healthier with hay fries and a muffin. Delta was the same, substituting the hay fries for a hay burger smothered in ketchup. Fluttershy was the only one to be really healthy with a salad.  
Pinkie had been on her best behavior and had- somehow- stayed mostly quiet throughout their meal. Now, however, they were all pretty much finished.

"So!" Pinkie began. "How long are you staying in Ponyville, Delta?"  
"Well..." Delta sighed, trying to fight the grin that Pinkie was forcing onto her face. "It's complicated. It could be anywhere between a few more days to... forever." What Delta had meant as a serious sentence supposed to convey her being trapped here ended up sounding cheerful.  
Pinkie Pie gasped.  
"Forever? _Forever,_ forever? Really?" The pink mare asked.  
"I really don't know, to be honest. It all depends on Twilight finding a way to get me home. If she can't, then I'm stuck here." Delta sighed with a smile. She just couldn't resist Pinkie's uplifting nature.

Pinkie tilted her head to the side.  
"Why would _Twilight_ need to find your way home? Don't you remember the way yourself?" Pinkie asked.  
"That's my fault, really. I sort of messed up a spell and pulled her from another world." Discord shook his head as he remembered what he'd done. He wasn't feeling as guilty anymore, thanks to Delta's general optimism on getting home.  
For the fourth time already, Pinkie gasped.  
"So not only do I need to throw a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, I need to throw a 'Welcome to Equestria' party! And maybe a 'Welcome to our Universe' party, too!" The party-pony looked a little panicked as she tried to begin planning three parties at once for one pony.

"Um... maybe not, Pinkie. We don't want you to overwork yourself." Fluttershy took on a concerned tone for her friend.  
"Yeah, maybe you could just merge all three into one." Rainbow suggested.  
"I'll give you a hand, if you want! Or a hoof." Discord chimed in, physically removing one of his hooves and offering it to Pinkie.

* * *

_Kay, I wanted to talk about Tumblr. Basically, I'm crossing the streams here. It's a little weird, but here goes nothing. My Tumblr URL is 'galifreygal', and my current avatar is Flutterbat. So far, there's only a few posts relating to Fluttercord and 'MLP'. Everything else has to do with BBC's 'Sherlock' and 'Doctor Who'. If you know of 'RageGamingVideos' from YouTube, there's some stuff on his Crew there. You might even get some fanart of any of those topics!_  
_Right, so yeah. I'll see y'all next time!_


	6. Chapter 6

_I feel super-guilty about not telling you guys I'd be at my dad's yesterday. To make up for it, here's a double-update! The second part is reminiscent of 'BTiM' and its extra chapters, but sadly without the easy layout. It's not just gonna be random, though, since I had a similar idea planned for a while. It'll just be a little early!_

_So, without further adieu, here's Chapter 6!_

* * *

Welcome to Equestria

Pinkie Pie was not a pony to make a promise and then not follow through. Even if said promise wasn't necessarily a 'Pinkie Promise', it was still a promise from Pinkie.  
That was the main reason Delta was a little daunted by the idea of attending Pinkie's 'Welcome to Ponyville (and Equestria)' party. The pink mare had promised that most of the ponies she knew from Ponyville would be attending. Delta had asked her to keep the number of ponies who knew her exact situation to a minimum, so at least the brown pegasus didn't have to deal with a hundred strange ponies asking her about Earth.

The party pony was way too good at organising a huge event the day before it was supposed to happen. If anypony else tried it, they'd probably fail miserably.  
That meant that after Delta, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Discord left Sugarcube Corner to continue training, Pinkie began planning for the party to be the next day. She had a whole set of RSVPs by the end of the day, so she knew this party would be big. Twilight had agreed the tree-castle's ballroom would suit the occasion well when Pinkie had appeared and begged for a venue for some sort of welcoming party.

The morning of the day of the party dawned with Delta waking up in a room made entirely of cheese. She sighed in exhaustion and shook her head as she got up from her cheesey bed.  
"Very funny, Dissy." She grumbled. "Now change it back before Fluttershy walks in. I'm not defending you against her."  
"You're no fun anymore, Human. You just pout and sigh all the time." The draconequus appeared before Delta with a flash. He clicked his claw and the room returned to normal. "Where's my minion of chaos gone?"  
"Excuse me?" Delta frowned, glaring at Discord.

Breakfast was a tired affair, since everypony was worn out from training. Dash had been working Delta pretty hard, especially since her fluke experience with some respectable speed. She'd caught a pretty good breeze and had soared through the sky faster than she'd ever flown. Still, it had led to her landing badly. Delta still had a bit of a limp, but it had mostly worn off.  
The tired ponies and Discord ate silently. They'd agreed to meet Rainbow in the afternoon to get an hour or so of training in before Pinkie's party. However, Discord had agreed to help Fluttershy feed the animals early in the morning and he wasn't planning on letting Delta sleep in.

As the two other creatures got to feeding the collection of animals around Fluttershy's cottage, Delta decided she'd like to get some practice flying alone. So far, she'd had supervision every time, and Delta had a feeling she'd do better without company watching her every move.  
Determination seized the shorter-than-average pegasus as she spread her wings wide. The first few flaps were just to get the feel of the wind before taking off. There was a pleasant breeze blowing from the south, with a little strength to it. She'd need to compensate, but she was getting better at staying focused.  
Delta paused. She was hesitating. What if something happened while she was in the air and she got badly injured? With nopony around, she could run into some serious problems.

Shrugging her fears off, Delta decided she'd just shout for Fluttershy and Discord if something happened. One of them was bound to hear her if something went wrong.  
The part of her that shipped them together was in a constant state of ecstasy since she'd arrived to Equestria. After all, her arrival meant that Discord was essentially living with Fluttershy. Granted, he slept in another room. Foal steps, foal steps; Delta had a master-plan she had yet to complete. She had a vision that they would be together by the time she got home. Delta spent a lot of time surveying Fluttershy's reactions to Discord's actions. Since she already knew half the story, she had to know how the yellow pegasus felt towards the draconequus before beginning Stage Two.

Delta cut off her train of thought with a smirk. At this rate, she'd be planning their wedding. Instead, it was time to focus on flying.  
The pegasus began to take off, her wings moving rapidly to force her into the air quickly. They slowed to a steadier pace when she was at a comfortable height. A few quick circles around a tree gave Delta the confidence she needed to ascend a little higher. Eventually, the pegasus was pretty high up in the sky. The tree she'd been circling looked tiny from this distance.  
Delta's biggest goal was to achieve supersonic flight at some point. She'd seen Rainbow do the Sonic Rainboom countless times on YouTube, and the physics baffled her. At least if she could replicate the speed and effort Rainbow used, she'd know if it was possible on Earth.

In reality, Delta knew she was quite a while away from being able to perform supersonic flight. She just wanted to test how fast she could fly so far. Delta paused in the air, taking in the sights and smells. In the distance, she could see Ponyville. It still shocked her a little when she remembered who she really was and where she came from. She'd only been in Equestria for a week and she was already forgetting what it was like to be human. Having hands was useful, but the equines usually had a substitute for whatever it was that could be used with hooves. Mane brushes for example, which were next to useless on Delta since her light blue mane seemed determined to be impossible. They had straps to keep the thing stuck to her hoof. The magnetic hoof thing was still a mystery to Delta, sadly.

Flying quickly was one of the most exhiliarating feelings Delta had ever experienced. It was like nothing she'd ever imagined. The wind soared alongside her, whipping at her mane and tail, simultaniously speeding her up and slowing her down. It was incredible. She understood why Rainbow Dash loved racing and speed-flying in general. Delta caught the speed-bug in an instant as she dodged clouds in her diagonal descent pattern. She was using gravity to her advantage, along with the southerly breeze, to boost her natural speed.  
"Woohoo!" Delta cried.

**o.O.o**

Pinkie's party was in full swing. It was a whole lot less suffocating than Delta had expected. Everypony was focused on having fun with their friends, and only a few ponies actually came over to welcome Delta to Ponyville. She was glad she could just hide with Fluttershy and Discord, who had assumed his 'Twister' form again. The draconequus seemed to enjoy being a pony way too much.  
Delta was overly excited to be in the tree-castle's ballroom, since she could brag about its grandness to her fellow Bronies when she returned.

In Delta's head, it was no longer an 'if' question. There was a solution for everything, and Delta was sure Twilight had made great progress since she'd first seen her. She was sure to get home at some point, so she figured there was no rush.  
Through the crowd, Delta spotted Pinkie Pie hopping in their general direction. She seemed to be leading a small entorage of ponies over to where the three 'ponies' were sitting at the edge of the room.  
It took Delta a moment, but once she realised what Pinkie was doing, it took barely a second to recognise the other ponies with her. Delta's breath caught in her chest.

Pinkie Pie was leading Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Applejack over to Delta, Discord and Fluttershy. If Delta ever doubted her existance in this world, it was now. She was seconds away from being in the same place as the Mane 6, in a party dedicated to her. It was just too surreal.  
Finally, the group arrived.  
"Hey, guys." Rainbow greeted.  
"Hi Delta! Do you like your party? Oh, here are the rest of my friends. This is Applejack and that's Rarity." Pinkie beamed.  
"Hey there, Sugarcube! Pinkie explained yer situation. Lemme be the first Apple t'welcome ya to Ponyville, and to Equestria!" Applejack smiled and tipped her hat to the newcomer.  
"Hello, darling. I simply cannot _believe_ what happened to you! You must be ever so worried about your family." Rarity sighed. "Still, I am glad we get to meet you."  
"Hey again, Delta." Twilight greeted simply.  
"Um, hi everypony." Delta was a little humbled by the reception she'd been given.

As the party wore on, most of the Mane 6 dissolved into the crowd, talking to other ponies and generally partying. Eventually, after spending most of the time stuck to the wall of the ballroom, Delta felt her stomach rumble. Discord offered to summon some food, but Delta's legs were cramping up a little.  
So, the brown pegasus set off into the crowd of ponies. If she tried, Delta could probably name about half of them. She trotted past Bon Bon, Lyra, Colgate, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Berry Punch, Cheerilee, and a whole 'nother bunch Delta couldn't possibly try naming.

Eventually, Delta found the food. There were ponies scattered here and there around the table, picking at the food like vultures. As Delta began to munch on one of the last few red velvet cupcakes, she realised she recognised one mare. The sight of her drove Delta to freeze. Not in the background, not hidden or sensored or muted, talking with Pinkie, Derpy Hooves stood. Her eyes were drifting apart, but the mare blinked and they seemed to reset. From what Delta could hear, they were discussing the differences between cupcakes and muffins. The grey pegasus' voice was higher pitched than Delta remembered from that one episode where she'd been given her first speaking lines and then later edited.

Delta would've gone to introduce herself, but something held her back. She wasn't sure what, until she spotted a pair of blue eyes watching her nearby. They were frowning. The eyes belonged to a tan stallion with a dark brown mane. He wore a green tie.  
Delta blinked and the stallion was gone. She shook her head to clear it. Of course Doctor Hooves was here. He was a resident of Ponyville. It wasn't strange. It wasn't like he was Doctor _Whooves_. That was just fanon and some easter eggs put in for the Whovian Bronies.  
There couldn't be an actual Time Lord in Ponyville, right?

...Right?

* * *

_Right. This isn't a DW/MLP crossover, so there's no Whooves. Sorry to disappoint. I might do a spinoff where he actually _is_ Whooves... hmm. Anyway, chapter seven is next. See ya... right away, really!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Right so, I'm tired. This might sound a little nonsensical, but I swear most of it'll make sense later. I hope. YAAAY! _  
_Also, I lied last time. I'm gonna casually slip into the old format for a while (sorta), so I don't have to come up with a million different variations on 'said'. Enjoy!_

* * *

Clouds

Delta was exhausted after a day of flying and partying. In fact, she was close enough to just collapsing onto her bed and sleeping until mid-afternoon.  
Instead, as Delta called 'goodnight' to Fluttershy and Discord, she opened her bedroom door and instantly thought she was dreaming.  
Her room was not there. There was a doorway, and then... the night sky. Technically, the cottage must have been pretty high up, since there was a fluffy cloud positioned perfectly at the entrance to the room.

When dreaming was ruled out, Delta knew exactly who was to blame. To be honest though, she was tired enough to fall asleep on the 'cloud', if that was really what it was.  
The pegasus made her way onto the cloud and over to where, roughly, her bed usually was. She curled up on the incredibly soft and surprisingly dry and comfortable nest of cloud, waiting for sleep to engulf her.

"You're getting used to these changes way too easily." The voice jolted Delta awake. She quickly realised who was speaking, given that he'd managed to invade her personal space yet again. Delta used a sleepy hoof to push away Discord's face as she raised her head.  
"What do you want?" Delta yawned widely.  
"Well, obviously I need some better material. You didn't even bat an eyelid at this one!" Discord sighed.  
"Don't look at me. Those days are over." Delta grumbled, wishing she could just go to sleep.  
"That's a shame, don't you think?" Discord asked.

"Not really. I just don't want to write chaos after what happened last time." Delta had no idea why she was even bothering with the draconequus. She had more important things to do, like sleep.  
**"But what about all our good times? You're just going to forget them?" **  
"Of course not. I'm just not going to write about them when I get home."

**"Really? All these crazy pony-related adventures and you're not even going to write about them?"**

"No. What if I draw in another chaos-creature that uses me to take over the world?"

**"What other chaos creatures do you know?"**

"..."

**"Exactly. Now help me come up with ways to startle you."**

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the whole 'startling me' thing? If I know about them, they're not gonna affect me."

**"That's where you're... actually, probably right."**

"I'm always right. I thought we established this."

**"No, we established that you are **_**never**_** right, and when you are it means the end is nigh. Or... **_**neigh**_**."**

"It's really important you know how much I dislike you right now."

**"Oh! I've been downgraded from hatred! Wow, I must've done something right. Tell me what it is, so I can reverse it."**

"You were nice to Fluttershy."

**"...Actually, maybe 'dislike' is fine."**

"Nope. You'll find another way to make me hate you again. I just know it. Just don't screw up with Fluttershy. I have a plan to uphold."

**"It actually shocks me how much you worry me sometimes. What's this 'plan'?"**

"I make the King of Chaos worry? Huh. Mission success."

**"Wait, really?"**

"Ahaha, no. My plan involves getting you two together."

**"The Discord you have dialled is no longer in service."**

"...You're sitting beside me. That doesn't work."

**"I am the Lord of Disharmony! It works if I say it works!"**

"Wow, someone's a little jumpy. Is it the goal of my plan?"

**"N- Of course not... It's my plan too, just..."**

"Just..?"

**"Oh, it really is none of your business, Human."**

"I am Delta of Earth! It's my business if I say it's my business!"

**"Geez, you're so irritating."**

"And that's why you love me."

**"*hate"**

"...How did you do that?"

**"Lord of Disharmony... Spirit of Chaos... Any of this ringing a bell?"**

"Yes, but- oh well. You are impossible."

**"Technically, **_**you're**_** the impossible one. The Impossible Mare."**

"Stop quoting my fandoms. It upsets me."

**"But 'The Impossible Mare' is a good reference..."**

"Not if you ship Whoufflee."

**"Ah. Sorry for your loss."**

"Thanks."

**"But really, haven't you missed this?"**

"Missed what?"

**"Us talking for hours on end, undecided on whether we were friends or enemies."**

"Honestly?"

**"Yup."**

"Uh, kinda."

**"I am sorry, though."**

"About the Whoufflee thing? Don't mention it. Really."

**"No. I'm sorry you're here."**

"Are you... apologising for bringing me here?"

**"...Yes."**

"Well, that was unexpected. And rather stupid."

**"**_**What**_** did you just say?"**

"Wow, work on your temper. Anyway, it was stupid. Never apologise for this. Ever."

**"..?"**

"It's the greatest experience ever. If you hadn't messed up, I'd have never met the girls. I'd have never learned to fly. I'd never know how good a dandelion sandwich was. I'd never be able to hold a significant argument about muffins and cupcakes. My point is, this is the greatest opportunity I've ever been given. I'd be an idiot if I didn't enjoy it, no matter what the future holds."

**"Your optimism is sickening. Also a little contagious." Discord grinned.**  
"I've been told that before." Delta replied with a smile, but was quickly interrupted by a wide yawn.  
"Okay, it really is time you get some sleep." Discord clicked his claw and Delta was suddenly on her bed, back in Fluttershy's cottage.  
"G'night Discord, and thanks." Delta smiled sleepily, feeling her eyelids grow heavy.  
"Goodnight, little pony." Discord winked and disappeared in a bright flash.

* * *

_This is what happens when I let myself write with only the bare bones of a storyline in my head..._  
_See y'all next time!_


	8. Chapter 8

_Woo! So I'm fuelled with sugar and music. To a normal person, I may as well be drunk, since that's about as coherent I am, eating these blue bonbons. What? They turn my tongue blue! *giggle*_  
_Yeah. Um... I'm just gonna write now. What is it with awkward intros? Oh well. Enjoy!_

* * *

Title Names are Difficult

'Twister' walked at a slow pace behind the two mares. They were making their way through the Ponyville Market about a week after Delta's party. Twister was grumbling to himself while they chatted happily about the improving weather. Knowing Rainbow Dash meant they got regular updates on the weather before it happened. They knew that they were due a storm soon, and that it would rain for a while afterwards. With Autumn approaching, the weather was supposed to deteriorate. Delta related it to watching the weather on TV, and had a bit of a laugh imagining Rainbow as a Weather Girl.

The three ponies were checking out the deals available in the Market. The trip was supposed to be 'bonding time' for Discord and Fluttershy, as planned by Delta, but of course she'd been dragged along. She didn't really mind, since she had an unknown amount of time remaining in Equestria.  
In fact, Delta hadn't checked up on Twilight's progress since she'd first arrived in Ponyville. The brown pegasus added that to the list of things she needed to do. The list was gradually growing longer with each passing day.

Item one was concerned with Discord and Fluttershy, obviously. Number two was to finally meet Derpy. Number three was to find out why 'Time Turner' had been watching her at the party. Number four was to complete the 'Daring Do' book series. Number five was only if she had to stay in Equestria for another month or so- attend the Grand Galloping Gala. And now, number six was to keep track of Twilight's progress. She was planning to cross off most of the items before she had to leave. Whether that was realistic or not depended on Twilight's work so far.

"Do we have to wander aimlessly?" Discord moaned in boredom. "Do you two even have a purpose here?" The grey unicorn was dragging his hooves to slow himself down further.  
"Actually, Discord, we're here for _fun_." Delta grinned. "You know that thing? Fun?"  
"I think I used to." Discord muttered, kicking at a pebble.  
"Look on the bright side, Discord!" Fluttershy beamed. "It's a wonderful day, and you get to spend time with your friends!"  
"Y-yes, I suppose." Discord's yellow-red eyes found his hooves bashfully. Delta almost squealed. She loved it when Fluttershy did something cute. It made him all mushy, and a whole lot easier to deal with.

After a little more browsing, Delta realised she should cross off the Twilight part of her list sooner rather than later. Once she had an idea on how long she was here, Delta could put everything on the list into practice.  
"Um, Fluttershy, I'm gonna go visit Twilight. I need to see what progress she's made on finding a spell to get me home." Delta smiled reluctantly.  
"Oh, well we could go with you. If you want." Fluttershy suggested. "I'm finished shopping, so unless you want to go alone..."  
Delta was a little surprised, but she supposed they were an inseperable trio at this stage.

A few days beforehand, the Castle of Friendship had gained its own miniature Royal Guard. As was customary, each guard wore enchanted armor. Their coppery armor made each pony appear a light purple colour, with lilac eyes and a dark blue mane. Their armor had Twilight's cutie mark on it. Only the Captain of Twilight's guard kept her individuality. She was a light grey mare with a short blue mane named Arrow.  
One guard sat outside the Castle of Friendship at all times, keeping watch. Today, it was one of the regular soldiers.

As Delta, Fluttershy and Twister-cord approached the main entrance, the guard stood to attention. He quickly recognised the trio and moved to open the door for them.  
"Good day." The guard greeted gruffly as they entered.  
"Um, thanks." Fluttershy smiled weakly, a little intimidated.  
The three ponies made their way through the empty entranceway, their collective hooves echoing through the huge expanse. Two guards were posted at the open doors leading into the Round Table of Friendship, which- incidentally- never contained a table.

Delta was at a stage where she was just naming everything 'the _ of Friendship' in her mind. The Guards of Friendship. The Corridor of Friendship. The Stairs of Friendship. The Doors of Friendship. The Twilight of Friendshi- oh.  
Delta had almost bumped into Twilight in her minor daze. The trio had been heading for the Library of Friendship, but the Princess had been heading out of the library.  
"Oh, hi guys!" Twilight greeted, halting her exit.  
"Hey, Twilight." The three others greeted, with variations from each. They weren't quite at the 'talking in unison' stage yet. Discord had reverted back to his regular mismatched self during the journey to the library. Delta had barely noticed.

"Do you mind me asking why you're here? Not that I don't appreciate your visit, of course." Twilight asked.  
"Well, I was wondering what progress you'd made so far." Delta began. "It's just... it's been two weeks, and you haven't really said anything."  
Twilight felt herself begin to frown. Delta's attitute had certainly improved since that first night, but she was clearly tiptoeing around the question she wanted to ask.  
"You want to know when you can go home." Twilight stated.  
"Yes, if that's okay."  
"That's just it. It's not okay." Twilight turned away and began trotting back into the library. The trio followed close behind as she made her way to a table covered in a sprawling array of books. "In fact, if you weren't standing there, I'd say it was impossible."

"What?" Delta frowned. Twilight brought three books closer to herself that had been from different places on the table. They hovered around her as she re-checked her facts.  
"Everything I have on interdimentional travel is all wild theory." Twilight began. "The authors themselves state their impracticality and improbability. Even in fiction, there's always some horrible consequence. In the '_Adventures of Sugar Drop_' series, the protagonist's homeworld gets destroyed because of the strain put onto the fabric of time and space in book 3. In '_Hay, Please_', the barriers between dimentions begin collapsing, merging each part of the multiverse together. Each book, whether fact or fiction, warns of disaster if interdimentional travel is even attempted. We were lucky nothing bad happened the first time. If we tried it again, the consequences could be grave."

The three other creatures in the room were completely silent. The quiet stretched on for some time as Delta's frown deepened.  
"So, I'm stuck here. I'm actually stuck." The pegasus' voice was weak. Her eyes were staring through the floor into the unknown. "I'm trapped. I- I can't ever go home?" Her voice cracked a little on the last word.  
Twilight set her books back down onto the table and sighed.  
"Technically, yes. If we were to try, your home could be destroyed. Or even Equestria." The purple alicorn explained yet again.  
"So... you're saying we're not even going to try?" Delta's voice was strained and wavering dangerously. "You're saying that we _could_, but we won't even _try_?!" Angry, desperate tears were welling up in her blue eyes.

"I'm saying we _can't _try. I'm sorry, Delta, but the consequences are too-" Twilight started.  
"Oh, '_consequences_'. Wonderful. I'm going to have to live out my life in Equestria, abandoning my friends and family and my whole future, just because we can't even _try_." Delta interrupted. "It's not fair!"  
The alicorn, pegasus and draconequus remained silent.  
"It's just not fair! I was so happy on Earth! Everything was going well... I had wonderful friends and a boyfriend. I was doing well in exams. I had everything I ever wanted! I had a bright, brilliant future to discover." Delta's wobbling voice finally crumbled, along with her restraint. Tears poured down her cheeks, leaving trails in her fur. "It's all gone."

"Don't forget. You have other friends." A soft voice behind Delta roused her from her self-pity. She glanced back and spotted Fluttershy and Discord, both with concerned expressions. A wary smile began to form itself on Delta's face.  
"And no matter what, we'll always be here for you." Twilight spoke. Delta could hear the smile in her voice.  
"I... I guess I know." The brown pegasus' voice was still strained, but her tears were slowing. "Thanks, guys."

* * *

_So that was chapter eight. Hope ya enjoyed, and I'll see you all next chapter!_

_Personal note: Heh, I do wish I had more real life Brony friends. So far, I only have three, and two I wouldn't really call friends, per say. The third isn't into the whole 'fangirling' thing, so I'm basically fangirling at her most of the time. *sigh* At least I get to freak out about this stuff here without being stared at and judged. I suppose that's one of the many reasons I love the Brony fandom. We're so accepting of each other's weirdness! :D_


	9. Chapter 9

_I honestly never know the best way to open these things. I know some authors leave out the personal bit, but I don't know. I enjoy rambling aimlessly before and after a story. It gives you guys some idea about how crazy I am, while sometimes providing explanations and excuses. _  
_Goddammit, turn off the love-songs playing in my writing playlist! That's dangerous! Next thing you know, I'll go even mushier!_  
_Anyway, enjoy chapter nine!_

* * *

Grand Galloping Rainboom (what?)

Delta was dropping through the air like a bullet, her wings flapping wildly as she dove towards the ground. Her mane whipped about crazily, stinging at her eyes.  
She was unable to speak as her speed increased. She'd gotten past terminal velocity a while ago, and was currently powering her way faster than she'd ever flown. In sticking with the laws of physics, she was miles away from travelling as fast as sound. Still, Delta felt a force push against her that she could only describe as an almost tangeable barrier. It pushed back with incredible power, resisting Delta's efforts to break through it.  
Determination seized the small pegasus as she pushed against the barrier with all her strength.

Alas, she wasn't fast enough.  
The barrier shot Delta back like an aggitated piece of elastic. She was fired backwards through the air, sent twirling and tumbling into the sky. Aside from severe disappointment and a dizzy head, Delta was unharmed when she finally came to land beside the other pegasus.  
"You got pretty close, kid!" Rainbow Dash praised, watching as the ruffled pony sat down in disappointment. "Not many pegasi can break the sound barrier. It's an impressive thing to get as close as you did!"  
"Yeah, but I still failed." Delta sighed. "And I keep failing. I've tried the sonic boom about ten times already, and I just can't get it!"

"Yeah, but the point is you're getting closer. That's gotta count for something, right?" Rainbow reminded her.  
"You were able to perform a Sonic Rainboom as a filly." Delta muttered.  
"Yeah, well not everypony is as awesome as me. You just gotta learn to accept that." Rainbow grinned.  
Delta sighed again, but she couldn't stop her smile. She got an idea all of a sudden.  
"Hey, Dash... Would you mind, um... maybe..." Delta began, a hopeful twinkle in her eye. "...Consider demonstrating the Rainboom?"  
Rainbow sent her a sly glance, but noddded all the same.  
"Stand back. I'm the Rainbow, and I'm about to BOOM!"

The cyan pegasus took to the sky like a shot and Delta watched in awe as she attempted to get higher and higher in the air. It didn't take long, and soon Rainbow Dash was soaring towards the ground faster than Delta would've thought possible. Without much effort, the rainbow-maned pegasus broke the sound barrier.  
The resulting sonic boom left an expanding ripple of gorgeous rainbows that left Delta awe-struck.  
The tiny screen with which she used to watch 'My Little Pony' did the glorious Rainboom no justice. It was spectacular. Delta felt the sudden need to study it and wished she had a notepad or something to jot some stuff down in.

She was sure a few simple calculations could work out how fast Rainbow was going. A little practice could mean Delta might be able to perform her own sonic boom. It would never be a Sonic Rainboom, given her lack of rainbows, but at least it would be fun. Besides, she reasoned, it was for science!

**o.O.o**

Delta's time in Ponyville was an endless cycle of Discord's pranks, Fluttershy's kindness, Rainbow's training, reading, and finally sleep. Meals were dotted in between those activities regularly.  
The blue-maned mare had no quarrels with her new life. It had taken some time, but after almost a month, she had begun to accept her fate to live as a pony. Her family and friends would surely recover. They had each other, and that was fine. As it was, Delta was genuinely relieved about some things. In Equestria, she didn't need to worry about college, or jobs, or weather. Bills seemed to be a very relaxed thing, since the Princesses had figured out a fair taxing system. With the lack of consistant electricity and the internet in general, Delta couldn't spend every waking minute on YouTube or Tumblr, which helped her productivity immensely.

Delta's main concerns were to complete everything on her list whenever she got the chance. Without a fixed deadline, she was focusing on other more fun tasks, like supersonic flight. At least she'd managed to convince Discord to spend the afternoon with Fluttershy, tending to animals.  
Delta had added a brand new note to her list recently - her Gala dress. With the Grand Galloping Gala approaching a whole lot quicker than expected, Delta was still to try out the dress Rarity had designed. She had been reassured that it was fantastic by the white unicorn, but Delta felt the need to at least see it before it was deemed ready.

In truth, Delta was enjoying being trapped in Equestria a little more than she'd like to admit. It was just too much fun being a pony, in her opinion. Living with an animal-savvy pony and an omnipotent being had its advantages, such as constant entertainment and no spiders. There was never a dull moment in the little cottage, between Discord's outbursts of chaos and Fluttershy's overall cuteness. It really didn't help that the two happened to be Delta's OTP - One True Pairing. She wanted them to be together like she needed to breathe to survive. At the same time, she didn't want to interfere too much, in case there were misunderstandings. She knew a lot of ponies thought her and Discord were a thing, but in reality, he was stuck in the 'hello, unpredictable creature of chaos' zone. She appreciated his friendship when it showed, but otherwise wanted no part of a relationship with him.

Delta found herself surrounded by friends, and yet she was happy. Usually in the perfect situation, there was at least loneliness to contend with. Shockingly enough, everything was going well. Her new friends understood her, and so far nothing awful had happened. Aside from the whole 'being trapped in Equestria' thing. It sort of put Delta on edge, though. She wasn't used to this level of perfection. It made her paranoid. It was like she expected something terrible to happen soon.  
Of course, Delta had no idea that things were already crumbling at the seams.

In the Everfree Forest, Zecora had noticed fewer creatures around a certain area near to her hut. The zebra was intrigued, so she wandered deeper into the forest in search of more of these phenomena. What Zecora found shocked her more than a little.  
"These parts of the Forest are not what they seem; this bird, that bush, they are not of our Everfree." Zecora muttered to herself, an ominous feeling creeping up on her. The things she was refering to definitely stood out in terms of looks, but it wasn't just that. Zecora actually _felt_ something wrong about them.  
The uneasy feeling she felt made Zecora turn back eventually. On her journey through the trees, though, she spotted what looked like a giant metal structure on wheels. It looked beaten up and broken down.

"Something's wrong, I fear. I know these strange objects do not belong here. I hope, in time, the reason becomes clear- danger feels all too near."

* * *

_Yeah, I love writing dialogue for Zecora. She reminds me of Guinan from Star Trek: TNG. Also, I can't wait for things to shake up a bit._

_I'll see y'all next time, guys! And have a brohoof for tolerating my craziness! /)_


	10. Chapter 10

_I'm all dazed and weird today. So sorry. I'm pretty sure you guys don't wanna know, but it's just adorable really. Damn, my romantic side is showing. Moving on! Time for-_

_I just swore at my phone. (Does 'fudge' count as a swear?) Okay, I'm back to normal. Uh, time for chapter ten! Hooray for double-digets! Have the shortest chapter so far as a reward! I'm such a troll._

* * *

Zecora's Warning

As soon as Zecora realised that something was horribly wrong in the Everfree, she began the journey from her hut to Ponyville. Since Twilight Sparkle became a Princess, conveying disasters had become a little easier.  
And so, Zecora made her way through the streets of Ponyville, bathed in the early-morning sun, toward the Castle of Friendship.  
The Captain of the guard, Arrow, was standing guard at the door. The grey mare moved aside at once for the zebra.  
"Good to see you, Zecora." Arrow nodded blankly, but broke into a smile.  
"And you too, Arrow. I am afraid I am not here on happy terms, though. I wish to see Twilight to prevent a great sorrow." Zecora's voice was full of concern.  
"Oh- yes, right away. Go on ahead." Arrow gestured to the open door, her smile dissolving into a worried frown.

Princess Twilight Sparkle was found once again in her new library, pouring herself into books of astronomy.  
"Princess Twilight, I come with news of the Everfree. The forest I have called my home is unrecognisable, even to me." Zecora explained to the tired-looking alicorn.  
"What?" Twilight lifted her head, very much confused and tired, from the book she had open on a table.  
"The forest is filled with objects that do not belong. The force behind this is clearly very strong." Zecora warned.  
"Um, could you maybe explain without rhyming? I'm too tired to decipher riddles." Twilight stretched, allowing her tired muscles some movement.

Zecora sighed.  
"The Everfree has gone wild. Compared to this, Discord's attacks were mild." The zebra exclaimed.  
"Really? Okay, I'll investigate at once." Twilight stood up, but wobbled warily. Zecora stabilized her with a hoof.  
"Perhaps another could traverse the forest deep. You, dear Twilight, really need your sleep."  
"Right. Okay. Um, I'll contact the girls." The tired alicorn shook her head to try to clear it.  
"I quite think this is a matter for a Princess like Celestia. This problem could endanger all of Equestria." Zecora explained.  
"Oh. Okay then. Um... Spike?" Twilight called for the baby dragon. He appeared a moment later from another part of the library. "Take a letter to Celestia, would you?"

"No problem." Spike grinned. Then he looked Twilight over. "Twilight, did you stay up all night reading?"  
"Not important, Sp-" Twilight interrupted herself with a yawn. "Spike. Just please write the letter."  
"Of course." The dragon watched his friend warily, but produced a quill, parchment and ink.  
After the letter was written and sent, Spike turned back to Twilight and Zecora.  
"Twilight, please get some sleep. You look exhausted." He picked up one of Twilight's books and examined the cover. "I'm sure... '_Hay, Please_' can wait."  
Twilight sighed tiredly at Spike's words.

Suddenly, she seemed wide awake.  
"No, Spike, it really can't." Twilight was panicked all of a sudden as she took the book from Spike and flipped through until she found a certain page. She read down through it, mouthing the words as she did so, her eyes growing wide with every sentence.  
Finally, she looked up.  
"Listen to this. '_Chapter 13 - Crumbling: Strange things were happening around Trottingham. Hay Bale and Sage Leaf were sure that half the town's population were disappearing without explanation._'" Twilight read.  
"A mystery, cool. I still don't see why-" Spike began, but was interrupted.  
"I believe I know what Twilight is saying. This work of fiction was not used for time-slaying. Instead, this tale is close to our own. I only hope that what's written is not engraved in stone." Zecora took on a concerned tone.

"_Strange patches of land had been seemingly stolen; to be replaced by bizarre mock-ups like that of a filly's drawing. Here and there were scattered objects and creatures, unlike any the two friends had ever seen. To eccentuate the issue, there were rippling tears in the air that shimmered. They were hypnotizingly beautiful in the fading pink sunset._  
_'Nothing good can come of this...' Sage whispered ominously._" Twilight read out a little more of the passage. Slowly, Spike copped on to what the two others already knew.  
"So is that what's going to happen to Equestria?" He asked.  
"I don't know for certain, Spike. It's our best bet at the moment, though, which means we need to talk to a pegasus and a draconequus." Twilight stated.

* * *

_Really short chapter. I'm sorry, but I just thought considering what's about to happen, I'd give ya a short chapter and then a mega-one. By mega, I mean maybe 3,000 words._

_Now, go to sleep. Or wake up. When are you reading this? I'm writing this at 3 AM in Ireland. Woo!_


	11. Chapter 11

_Woo! So there's some stuff about to go down! I'm gonna stop talking, before I spoil everything. Good luck! I hope I haven't oversold this chapter now..._  
_Although, I should probably mention that my headcanon (that might actually be canon) is that Sombra's eye-leaking thing is just a result of evil magic. Just in case I give the wrong impression here. Sadly, King Sombrero won't be present. Though, I'd love to write something with him in it at one point. He's such an unexplored character in the show. I know it's different in the comics, but I haven't read them all yet. Whoops!  
That is all. Enjoy!_

* * *

It Begins

A group of soldiers from Celestia's Royal Guard hurried through Canterlot Castle, in search of the two Princesses. Their hooves thundered through the hallways of the castle, echoing loudly throughout. As they approached the doors to the throne room, the unicorns at the front of the group raised their horns in synchronization. The doors flew open, stopped short from banging against the wall by the guards already present inside the door.

"Princess Luna! Princess Celestia! We have grave news!" One of the stallions announced. The two Princesses sitting on their thrones did not respond as the guards had expected. They blinked calmly and exchanged a lazy glance.  
"I do believe we are being disturbed, sister." Princess Luna drawled, elongating each vowel.  
"Why, yes, sister. I believe we are. And here I was thinking we would get a day off." Princess Celestia sighed in disappointment, her slow words grating painfully against the anxious group of guards who were clearly in a rush.  
"P-Princess... we are sorry to disturb you both, your Majesties. Fortunately, it will not be in vain. It seems that Canterlot is in great danger. Strange things have been happening, and we do not know how to prevent them. What's worse is we have no idea how far the problems have gone. It might not just be contained to Canterlot." The same guard who had spoken earlier explained, his voice fast-paced and frantic, compared to the slow drawling of the Princesses.

"Oh, dear me. Something is wrong in Canterlot." Celestia shook her head, turning it slightly to glance out of a window at the rooftops. "It looks perfectly fine from here."  
"If there is nothing wrong, then these ponies are disturbing us pointlessly. And I thought we were royalty. Clearly not, since our Guard takes every opportunity to ruin our peace." Luna's face was blank. The two sisters exchanged another glance, their eyes lingering for a second longer, before Celestia's face cracked. Her blank expression turned to one of joy as she spluttered laughter into her hoof.  
"I'm sorry... I tried. I couldn't keep it up. Your face was just so..." Celestia laughed even harder, doubling over on her throne.  
"Ugh, you are the worst at acting. I knew we should've just been straightforward!" Luna grumbled, barely hiding a smile of her own. The two alicorns' voices had returned to a normal pace, but they were still confusing the Royal Guard.

"Very well. I suppose we'll have to break the news to them." The Princess of the Night sighed dramatically. Both sisters closed their eyes in concentration for a moment, once Celestia had calmed down. Suddenly, both sets of eyes were opened, revealing completely green eyes that leaked purple and black smoke from the edges.  
"We are not your Princesses!" Celestia giggled, her grin wide. Around them, the room rippled.

**o.O.o**

Delta woke with a start. The first thing she did was sit up and scan her room for signs of a wake-up prank. When nothing came up straight away, Delta was instantly suspicious. It was then she noticed the lack of light coming from behind the curtains. The pegasus sighed and flopped back down onto the bed. It was still night. Either that, or very very early morning. Everypony else in the cottage was probably sleeping.  
It was clear after what felt like an eternity that Delta was not getting back to sleep any time soon, so the mare got up and made her way out of her room. She wasn't hungry, but she was bored, so that meant she could probably eat a horse.  
...Metaphorically.  
When she reached the kitchen, Delta made herself a little collection of snacks and brought them to the living room. She lit a candle next to the sofa and set her stash down on one side.  
After grabbing a book from the nearby shelf, Delta settled herself down to read and binge-eat.

What felt like roughly an hour passed and daylight had not yet come. Delta had eaten her snack pile completely and simultaniously demolished the short story. It was a tale similar to 'Rapunzel', but with ponies. The story gave her way too many fanfiction ideas, but was over very quickly.  
A quick glance through her mind brought up a list of things she knew other people and ponies did when they couldn't sleep. Things like counting sheep and taking medication were on the list, but Delta avoided them. Instead, one idea appealed to her greatly. A moonlight stroll through Ponyville could wear her out enough to get back to sleep.  
And so, Delta cleaned up her mess and replaced the book, before setting off into the night.

Something seemed off to Delta. The journey from Fluttershy's cottage to Ponyville made her uneasy for some reason. She kept thinking she'd seen something in the corner of her eye. A wave, or a shimmer, or something. The pegasus frowned. It happened again, and this time Delta stopped moving to stare at the spot she thought she'd seen something. Just as she was about to give up, the air before her rippled.  
Delta's eyes widened.  
"No..!" She gasped quietly. "It can't be!"  
Something moved behind Delta. She spun around, only to see a tyre rolling past. Wait a minute... a tyre?

Delta followed the wheel's journey backwards. There, plain as day on the path in front of her, was a car. An actual, motorized car. It was banged up pretty badly, since one of its tyres had just rolled away. What really unnerved Delta was that the car had appeared without her hearing a thing.  
Then, suddenly, the car began to shimmer. It looked almost invisible at one point, but stayed resolutely on the ground, solidifying at last.  
Panic seizing the pegasus, Delta turned tail and galloped back along the path. Back over the little bridge. Through Fluttershy's front door. She slammed the door closed behind her, rattling some of the contents of the cottage.  
Delta collapsed onto the ground, panting, completely out of breath.

Once Delta had calmed down a little, she got up off the floor and made her way into the kitchen. Luckily, Delta had saved some of Discord's chocolate milk. She downed a few glasses of the chocolatey goodness while the sky turned pink in one of the windows. It was dawn.  
Her mind turned back to the things she had just seen. Air rippling, check. Strange objects not from this world, check. It was beginning to sound like Twilight was right. Interdimensional travel always has consequences.  
However, the shimmering was strange. It was almost like the car knew it wasn't supposed to be there or something.  
As Delta thought and re-thought about the whole experience, she chewed the inside of her cheek. It was a habbit from her human days that she hadn't yet gotten over. She supposed it wouldn't matter much if Equestria was torn apart.

**o.O.o**

Twilight and Zecora raced through Ponyville, past panicked ponies and petrified pets. Nearby, somepony sneezed.  
The early-morning sun shone down upon strange objects dotted about the town. There was even a huge chunk of metal at the edge of Ponyville that looked like somepony had made a train with dull greyish colours.  
The zebra and alicorn duo galloped shot past a bizarre sight that didn't quite register with either of them. Later, Twilight would wonder why there were two ponies that looked identical talking to one another.  
Everywhere they looked, things were wrong. Huge patches of the ground were coated in sand. Others had puddles that looked like they were a few feet deep. Here and there were fallen trees that were completely out of place. Each out-of-place thing was shimmering a little around the edges.

Finally, Zecora and Twilight reached Fluttershy's cottage. The alicorn Princess knocked on the door frantically.  
"Fluttershy? Delta? Discord?" Twilight called.  
"Perhaps they are not all awake yet. It has only been two hours since the moon set." Zecora pointed out.  
After waiting a moment or two, the door was finally answered by Delta. The mare looked a little shaken up.  
"Oh, good! Um, Twilight- you were right. The things in your books... th-they've been happening! There were ripples, and cars and tyres and-" Delta blurted out, stumbling over her words a little.

"Calm down, young mare. Now please, take a breath and recall your facts with care." Zecora soothed the frantic pony.  
"R-right. Uh, come in. Fluttershy and Discord are having breakfast." Delta moved out of the way to allow the alicorn and the zebra into the cottage. Once inside, she led them into the kitchen, where Fluttershy and Discord were indeed having breakfast. They both looked a little shaken themselves. Clearly Delta had told them of her experience.  
"Oh, hello Twilight. Hi Zecora. Do you want something to eat?" Fluttershy greeted, her voice shaking a little. The surprisingly brave pegasus hid it pretty well.  
"No thanks, Fluttershy. We're here to talk about what's happening in Ponyville, and possibly all of Equestria." Twilight explained.

"All of Equestria could be affected?" Fluttershy squeaked.  
"Oh no... I can't believe it. This is all my fault!" Delta cried.  
Throughout all the commotion, Discord was staying uncharacteristically quiet. He kept his eyes turned down, avoiding eye-contact with everypony.  
"There's nothing we could've done to prevent it." Twilight reasoned. "Unless this was caused by somepony trying to get back to Earth." The purple Princess glanced at Delta, hoping to get an explanation.  
"What- no! Of course not! After all your warnings, I couldn't be that stupid." Delta exclaimed.  
Twilight's glance turned to Discord.  
"You didn't try anything, did you?" She asked. The draconequus didn't answer immediatelly.  
"No. I didn't." He muttered to the ground.

Twilight frowned at Discord's strange behavior, but moved on all the same.  
"The things described in '_Hay, Please_' are happening all around Ponyville. Strange objects from other worlds and rippling air. It's safe at this point to assume it's the same all over Equestria. I've sent a letter to Princess Celestia, just in case she didn't know already. Hopefully, if we take action soon, we might be able to fix this. I hope." Twilight said the last sentence a little quieter than the rest.  
"We need to tell the girls about this!" Fluttershy spoke up. "They can help. Together, I'm sure we can make this right!"  
"I wish I shared your optimistic view. I only hope we are not affected by anything new." Zecora sighed.

Just then, the door to Fluttershy's cottage burst open. The pony responsible was quickly in the doorway to the kitchen.  
"So sorry to intrude, everypony." The tan stallion with a dark brown mane announced, a little out of breath. "But I need to tell you all something very important."

* * *

_Ooooh! So much happened! In case you're confused about time, the bit with the Princesses happened before Zecora went to Twilight last chapter, as did Delta's night-walk._  
_Funny how this chapter was just me writing solidly. Usually, I pause, get distracted by the internet and generally waste time. This time, though... Phew._  
_Anyway, I'll see y'all next time!_


	12. Chapter 12

_I am so sorry about the huge delays! I was over at my dad's house, and I couldn't write anything. However, here I am! Ready to continue where I left off! Now... where was I? Enjoy!_

* * *

The Problem with Sugarcube Corner

The stallion panted heavily in the doorway, his dark brown mane disheveled. His cutie mark was an hour glass.  
"I have some very important stuff to say." The stallion heaved. "First of all, hello! My name is Time Turner. Some people call me Doctor Hooves. Not entirely sure why. It might have something to do with the time I saved somepony in a hospital by pretending to be a doctor. Anyway, I'm rambling. Call me whatever you want. What's so important is that the barriers between worlds are becoming blurred. Sweet Celestia, Princess Twilight! Hi!" Time Turner cut himself off with a grin and a wave. Delta couldn't help but be reminded of the Tenth Doctor from 'Doctor Who'. However, he was simply Time Turner here. Delta had to hide some of her disappointment.

"Uh, Hi Turner." Twilight greeted a little awkwardly. Delta glanced in between the two ponies. Clearly, there was a story there.  
"Doctor, how do you know what's going on?" Fluttershy asked. "Um, if that's okay."  
"Of course it is, Flutters! Well, since I was a colt, I've had a fascination with the universe. I studied the subject very carefully my whole life." Time Turner smiled wistfully. He shook himself. "But since it wasn't my special talent, it remained a hobby. Working away in Ponyville Clocktower, reading books on the universe. A strange existence, to say the least. Anyway, we're here to save the multiverse."  
"Um, Doctor... Hi. I'm Delta. I'm partially responsible for this mess. I-" Delta began.  
"I know." The stallion's voice dropped low. His cheerful eyes focused on Delta with a glare. The brown pegasus flinched.

"...So what you're trying to say, is that there may be no Equestria by the end of the day?" Zecora asked. The small group had spent the last while discussing Equestria's situation. During that time, nopony noticed the flash that signalled Discord's teleportation away. He had been too quiet throughout the day, and it was more than a little strange.  
"It is a possibility, yes. Unless we figure out a way to fix the imbalance." Time Turner sighed.  
"Does that involve sending me home?" Delta asked, her voice small. She was still intimidated by the stallion with the hourglass cutie mark.  
"No, not at this point. The barrier is weak enough - any more damage could just speed up the process." Time Turner ran a hoof through his mane. "If we'd done that sooner, it might've fixed this mess."

Twilight glanced away in embarrassment.  
"If I'd only known, I would've sent you back straight away! Oh, this is my fault!" Twilight wailed.  
"Shh, it's not your fault, Twilight." The stallion soothed, placing a hoof on her shoulder. The caring glimmer in his eyes piqued Delta's curiosity again. The history between them was something she really wanted to know.  
"Hey, has anypony seen Discord?" Fluttershy asked. The ponies present glanced around the kitchen.  
"He's gone..." Delta sighed, suddenly wishing she had the ability to teleport away as well.

The four ponies and a zebra made their way through Ponyville toward the Clocktower. Time Turner opened the door and moved to the side to allow everypony inside.  
"Oi! Mech! We've got visitors!" The stallion announced. Delta frowned.  
"'Mech'?" The brown pegasus asked Fluttershy.  
"Oh, it's short for 'Mechanic'. He's Time Turner's son. I don't know his real name, sorry." Fluttershy responded.  
Delta blinked. Time Turner's son.

The group of ponies and Zecora headed further into the tower until they began to hear banging and metallic clanking.  
When they entered the room containing the noises, Delta spotted a dark brown colt with a short blonde mane. His wings were small, but still slightly bigger than they should've been on a young pegasus. It surprised Delta a little to spot he already had his cutie mark. It was a splodge of dark blue, with a cluster of golden dots. In the centre, there was a wrench. It almost looked like a section of the night sky with a tool.  
The colt spotted the newcomers with a wide grin. He was covered in random stains of oil, and his mane was ruffled crazily. His green eyes lit up.  
"Princess Twilight! Fluttershy!" Mech cried, swooping down from his perch on top of a set of pipes. "I've missed you guys!"

"Hello, Mech. We've missed you too." Fluttershy smiled warmly, giving the colt a brief hug.  
"Mech, would you mind improving the flow of magic in intersection twelve? I noticed a clog-up the other day." Time Turner asked.  
"Sure thing, Dad! I'll be back in a jiff!" Mech announced, taking off through the door behind them.  
"Best thing that could've happened to me, that little guy." Time Turner sighed, a sad smile on his face as he watched the colt go. He blinked. "Now! We have to figure out how to fix the barriers."

"We could try using alicorn magic. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance and I might be able to fix it if we work together." Twilight suggested.  
"Possibly. Have you contacted the other Princesses about what's going on?" Time Turner asked, his voice professional.  
"I sent a letter to Princess Celestia a few hours ago. Come to think of it, she hasn't responded yet. Strange." Twilight replied with a frown.  
"It is possible the Princesses are dealing with this stuff in Canterlot, and in the Crystal Empire as well. If that's the case, then maybe we're alone in this." Delta suggested with a sigh.  
"You're right. We have to assume we're alone in this. Wait- we're not!" Twilight exclaimed. "We could try using our Rainbow Power to fix the barrier!"  
Fluttershy smiled.  
"I-it could work! If we activate it, I'm sure we could patch up the holes in the fabric of space-time!" The yellow pegasus' voice was growing excited.  
"Well, c'mon then! We need to go find the other four ponies! Follow me!" Twilight announced, turning to gallop out through the door.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity had been collected as the ponies made their way through Ponyville. Each had been nearby, helping ponies out with strange objects that appeared dangerous. The only pony left was Pinkie Pie. The group of ponies rounded a building to where Sugarcube Corner was usually located.  
Everypony gasped. The whole building was just... _gone_. A huge crater was all that remained of the colourful place. A scattering of random baked goods dotted the ground around the crater.  
"Pinkie Pie..!" Fluttershy whimpered, her voice barely a squeak.  
"No, Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash cried.  
"This cannot be happening..." Rarity took a step back.  
"Oh, Sugarcube..." Applejack removed her hat and placed it over her heart.  
"S-she got out. She must've gotten out. She's probably helping other ponies around Ponyville." Twilight reasoned, her voice shaking.  
"Twilight..." Time Turner had a calm, resigned tone to his words.  
"Yeah, she probably got the Cakes out of Sugarcube Corner and is bringing them somewhere safe. That's it. She... she's fine!" Twilight's voice was getting a little frantic.  
"Twilight." Time Turner repeated. At this, Twilight deflated. She closed her eyes and accepted Turner's hug.

Delta and Zecora were the only ones to stay silent. To Delta, the world was a little blurred. Her ears were ringing. In her mind she could hear the echoes of Pinkie's laughter. She guessed this was grief as a pony.  
Then, as she felt the world fall away, she realised that this was not normal. The ground rushed up to meet her as her vision turned black.

* * *

_Oh no! I can't say much, since I know how this all ends. Well, I should hope so, since I'm the author. Anyway, see you guys next time!  
__Shameless self-promotion: Look out for my new 'Star Trek' fanfic, coming soon! It'll be a crossover between 'Star Trek (2009)' and 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'. Yes, there will be Q._


	13. Chapter 13

_It is inexcusible how long it's been since my last update. I could try to come up with excuses and win you guys over with words, but honestly that feels a little cheaty. Either way, I'm gonna update now and as often as I can. My Tumblr is always available if you want to message me! Complaints, suggestions, general fandom-goodness... I'm more likely to post there than here on a personal level, but at least here you get stories. If extremely inconsistantly!_

_Okay, it's been way too long. Where was I? Oh right..._

* * *

Panic in Ponyville

It took Fluttershy a moment to notice Delta had fainted.  
"Delta! Oh, goodness..." The yellow pegasus exclaimed quietly. Around them, Ponyville was in chaos. Not the good kind of chaos, either. Ponies galloped around, terrified. Fluttershy was sure she'd seen a metalic pony march after a group of stallions at one point.  
"Sugarcube, are you okay?" Applejack fanned the unmoving pony with her hat, to no avail. They were all still a little shocked by the disappearance of Sugarcube Corner, and AJ's use of her affectionate term made Rainbow Dash flinch. Luckily, nopony noticed, so Dash could pretend it was because of a nearby _crash_. The air was filled with the high-pitched wailing of ponies and the screech of something the ponies couldn't identify as a car alarm.

"We need to get everypony to safety." Twilight announced. "Applejack, can you bring Delta to the Castle? The guards will look after her there. After that, come find the others. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, you two fly around Ponyville and see if you can find somewhere safe to bring everypony. Report back to Rarity and Zecora."  
"Got it." Dash responded, sharing a nod with Fluttershy. The two took off into the air. Applejack hoisted the unconscious Delta onto her back and raced away toward the Tree Castle.  
"Rarity and Zecora, could you round up as many ponies as possible and try to keep them out of harm's way? It won't be easy - everypony's terrified. Once Rainbow and Fluttershy come back with a safe location, bring everypony you can there." Twilight ordered. The unicorn and the zebra nodded and took off.

"What about you and I?" Time Turner asked. Twilight just sighed.  
"I need you to find Mech and get out of Ponyville." The Princess' voice was quieter.  
"What? That's crazy! I need to help everypony else." The stallion had a disbelieving smile on his face. Twilight dropped her eyes for a moment, remaining silent. Then, she looked up. Time Turner almost took a step back from the sheer intensity of sadness there.  
"Equestria is doomed." Her voice was small. "Our only hope was to use the Rainbow Power to seal the barriers between the worlds. Now, there's nothing stopping the multiverse from tearing the world apart. It's only a matter of time before everything is gone. But if my theory is correct, that means Ponyville is the epicentre. The worst of the damage is here, and this'll be the first place to go."

Time Turner was silent for a moment, watching the Princess. He wasn't bothering to hide his caring gaze.  
"Twilight, I am not leaving you. Not to gain maybe one more day of life. Besides, there's always hope." It was Twilight's turn to almost take a step back. Turner's eyes were shining alongside his sad smile.  
"Thank you." She blinked sadly.  
"So, what are you doing then?" The stallion asked, his voice strong and prepared again.  
"Well, I need to address the citizens of Ponyville to let them know all will be okay." Twilight stood a little straighter. "They need a pony to look up to in this situation. But..." She trailed off.  
"But... you think it should be Celestia or Luna." Turner finished. "You want to go to Canterlot."  
"It would only take a moment. I've been working on a long-range teleportation spell that would bring me straight there. Then I can talk to the other Princesses and get some advice on how to calm everypony down." Twilight explained.

Out on the road, beside the crater that was Sugarcube Corner, a huge metallic thing appeared without a sound. It faded into place, shimmering ever so slightly. The ponies would never be able to identify the human object as an airplane. However, Time Turner frowned at the metal thing, watching as it phased into existance. Its shimmering reduced dramatically until only the edges were shimmering.  
Then, Turner stared around Ponyville at all the things that were out of place or missing. He squinted at the crater of Sugarcube Corner.  
Suddenly, the stallion jumped up in realisation.  
"Aha! Oh, yes, this is good! This is very, very good!" Time Turner exclaimed.  
"What? What is it?" Twilight asked.  
"Look very carefully at everything. Every little thing in Ponyville that shouldn't be here, or should be here." Turner explained. Twilight did as she was told.  
"I still don't..." She began.

"Look _carefully_, Twilight. The edges are shimmering!"  
"Uh, I fail to see how that's so great."  
"Equestria is filled with powerful magic. Correct? That's how pegasi can fly, how us earth ponies are strong, and how unicorns can use their magic. It's also how our world is so harmonious and strong. Without the magic, so many things would fall apart, like the Everfree Forest, or the weather. Likewise, our universe is protected by this magic. By... by a bubble of this magic. I studied it a few years ago, before we met. It's more a theory, but a lot of ponies agree with it.  
Anyway, what I'm thinking is that even now, the magical bubble is fighting back against the destruction. It's like the barriers have been broken, but the bubble is intact, trying its very best to keep everything in order. That's why the edges are shimmering! It's the magic fighting back!" Turner explained, his words tumbling out like a stream. His eyes were wide as he spoke, conveying his hope.

Twilight took a moment to repeat his words in her head. Then, her eyes widened too.  
"That's it!" She exclaimed. "If we can just reinforce the magic, it could reset everything! Like pumping up a beach-ball! Oh, that's brilliant, Time Turner!" The Princess pulled the stallion into a quick hug. "I need to tell Celestia at once! I'll be right back."  
Time Turner's ears were red as Twilight teleported away in an unusually bright flash. He supposed it took more power to teleport all the way to Canterlot, even as an alicorn.

Twilight Sparkle was a little dazed after her long-range teleport, so it took her a moment to identify her surroundings. After the pounding in her head subsided, she realised she was in an empty corridor in Canterlot Castle. More than a little proud of her accomplishment, but still wary of the danger Equestria was in, Twilight began galloping up the corridor toward a huge set of doors she recognised as that of the throne room.  
It was eerily quiet in the corridor, with only Twilight's echoing hoofclops and her racing heartbeat to keep her company. With a blast of magic, Twilight opened the door and skidded to a halt as quickly as she could, a horrified expression on her face. The throne room was as she remembered it, with the two thrones at the back of the room. Luna had her own throne installed recently, though that put the whole room off-centre. Twilight was always thoroughly annoyed by it.  
Yes, it was as she remembered it. Except... there was a huge, gaping chasm between where Twilight stood and where the thrones were.

The purple Princess gasped. It was as though someone had literally ripped the room in two. Like it was merely fabric. The chasm shimmered, but beyond the shimmer of magic, Twilight could only see darkness. She guessed this was what Delta had described as the 'Void'.  
Twilight couldn't take her eyes off the chasm for the longest time. That was, until a voice pulled her from her shocked paralysis.  
"Princess Twilight Sparkle." The voice mocked. The mere idea that the voice was using her name to mock her was enough to startle Twilight back to life.  
"Huh?" Twilight glanced up. Then, her eyes widened. "Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!"  
The two mares that sat on their respective thrones smirked.  
"Look, sister. It's the Princess of _Friendship_!" The pony that looked like Luna sneered. The voice was all wrong, though. It wasn't the voice of kind, gentle Luna, but the cruel drone of Nightmare Moon.  
"So it is, sister. I wonder if she knows." Celestia's voice was wrong, too. It was much too cruel and dry.

"I don't think she does, sister." The Luna look-alike blinked, revealing the trails of purple and black seeping from her eyes. Twilight gasped and took a step back. The Celestia look-alike cackled meanly, leaving Twilight frozen in fear. She, too, allowed her eyes to leak.  
"Well, now she does!" Celestia snorted, biting back another laugh.  
"Wh-who are you?" Twilight's voice shook in fear. It took her a moment, but she quickly realised she had to be strong. As a Princess, it was her duty to protect Equestria. "I demand you tell me who you are!" Her voice was much stronger.  
"Oooh, watch out sister!" Luna smirked, her pupils narrowing. "She _demands_ we tell her who we are!"  
"Oh, I think we should, sister." Celestia beamed, her eyes crazily wide. "I think she deserves to know before she dies. It's only fair!"

* * *

_Uh oh... what is Twilight going to do? What _can_ she do in that situation? You'll have to wait to find out! _  
_...Hopefully not as long as last time. I'm sorry about that, again._

_Just so ya know, I might post the backstory between Twilight and Time Turner on Tumblr at some point. Just for some idea on their relationship, since I know it's a little all over the place here._


	14. Chapter 14

_Woo! A consistant update again! I'm typing the intro with one hand, so it's incredibly slow. (Eating a lollipop with the other... mmm, childhood delights!)_

_Okay, I finished the lollipop. Writing can commence. Enjoy!_

* * *

The Barrier Weakens

At Sweet Apple Acres, the last safe place near Ponyville, things were relatively quiet. Applejack knew it was just the calm before the storm, but she tended to the scared ponies scattered about her family orchard with a brave smile.  
"Everything'll be fine, Sugarcube!"  
"No need t' worry 'bout a thing, lil' filly!"  
"Ah'm sure the Princesses will fix everything real soon. Don't you worry."  
Every manner of hope-inspiring phrase left the earth pony's mouth. They weren't lies. They were just Applejack expressing her hopes. She knew deep down that there _was_ no hope. That Equestria was doomed, and these were her final hours.  
At the very least, she was among her family at Sweet Apple Acres. Well, she was with Granny Smith and Big Mac. She'd asked around, but nopony had seen the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

The news had crushed her. She'd lost not only Pinkie Pie, but possibly her little sister.  
Rainbow Dash came into land beside Applejack, snapping her out of her grief.  
"Everypony from Ponyville's here." Rainbow sighed, slumping a little from exhaustion. She glanced at her friend with a weary smile. "You seen Twilight?"  
"No, Ah haven't, actually." AJ realised. She fixed her stetson and scanned the crowd of ponies outside. "Ah know Delta and the Royal Guards arrived a little later, but Ah don't remember seein' Twilight anywhere."  
Dash frowned.  
"I heard the Doc mention her earlier. Maybe he knows. See ya, AJ." Rainbow took off into the air, in search of Time Turner.  
Applejack sighed.  
"Bye, Dash."

A stretch of mountains nearby flashed and all of a sudden were giant piles of sugar. The sky above the sugarpiles was a weird mix of its normal blue and a light purpleish colour. The clouds, too, were mismatched. White, puffy clouds collided with pink, chocolate-filled ones. Rainbow lightning scorched the ground where Discord had been standing but a mere fraction of a second earlier. The ground had squares of grass and squares of purple checkerboard, just to top off the chaos-colliding-with-normal theme of the area.  
A flurry of spikey ice cream cones shot through the air at Discord's newest position. They barely missed his head, splatting instead in the middle of the sugarpiles, sending an avalanche of the tiny grains over the forest below. In retaliation, Discord sent an angry swarm of flying ballet buffalo twirling toward his target with a grunt of effort. His eyes were ablaze with anger, and a permanent snarl had fixed itself on his face. He dodged a wave of raspberry and lime sauce, choosing flying wasp-books as his next weapon.  
"Give up _now!_" Discord growled menacingly, building a ball of pure chaos energy between his palms that was sure to end the battle. In the meantime, he sent a crazy array of dangerously hilarious objects toward his target.

"Why would I ever want to give up? This is so much fun!" Eris, Queen of Chaos, giggled. The female draconequus hurled a basket of ham sandwiches at her male equivalent, barely grazing his tail. She got a snarl in response.  
"Do not think that I am you, _monster_." Discord hissed, knocking Eris back with a set of blue bowling pins.  
The female draconequus shook herself.  
"Well, of course you're not me." She dodged a not-so-hilarious set of axes with ease. "You're defending this non-chaotic land! Look at you... you've grown weak and sentimental, me!" Eris grinned, her whole form phasing out of existance for a moment. Discord was so taken aback by her unintentional shimmer that the set of flying boots hit him squarely in the stomach, knocking him back quite a bit. Fortunately, the ball of pure chaos remained in his grasp, ever growing and ever changing.  
Discord's frown deepened, and he moved the chaos energy to one paw. With his claw, he pulled his own head clean from his neck and threw it into the air. When it descended, he whacked it in Eris' direction with a bat made of bats.

The male draconequus' head landed in Eris' arms.  
"I may be 'sentimental', but I am in no way weak. In fact, I think my sentiment has given me a reason to fight. Making me the stronger draconequus." Discord's head smirked in triumph at Eris, who just frowned at him.  
"That's ridiculous." She scoffed.  
"Oh, really?" Discord raised an eyebrow, turning his gaze to look at his headless body, poised and ready to use the energy ball. Before Eris could so much as blink, the ball of pure chaos energy came hurtling toward her.

Twilight Sparkle disappeared in a flash. The sisters exchanged frustrated glances.  
"I can't believe we didn't expect that, sister." Luna grumbled. Celestia sighed.  
"Yes. We should've thought of a way to keep her here. Maybe a teleportation barrier. Maybe just a magic blocker. Either way, we should've kept her here. Now killing her will be harder." Celestia harumphed.  
"It's okay, sister. We'll think of a way to get her back. After all, what Princess would just let us take the places of our counterparts? I know I wouldn't." Luna reassured the other Princess with a smile.  
Twilight panted, reappearing in another corridor. For a moment, she hoped she might be back in her own castle. The architecture was all wrong, though. She was still in Canterlot Castle. A crack in the wall confirmed that, especially with the darkness beyond the shimmering of the magic.  
Twilight was confused. She was sure Ponyville was the epicentre. It was the origin of the problems, so why was Canterlot so badly affected? Unless something incredibly big and incredibly strong forced its way through...

She guessed that whatever it was that controlled the Princesses was powerful. At least, she hoped they were bing controlled and weren't just acting freely.  
Now that Twilight cast her mind back, both Princesses had been shimmering around the edges. That meant that the real Celestia and Luna were somewhere else!  
But where?  
Twilight had used a lot of magic in order to teleport from Ponyville to Canterlot. She had been planning to use the magic already present in the castle to go back, but she couldn't just leave the two imposters on their thrones!  
Then again, the citizens of Ponyville were probably scared and alone without a figurehead. She was sure her friends would've stepped up to the mark at this stage, so maybe it would be okay.

"Oh, I don't know what to do!" Twilight cried, stomping a hoof down for good measure. That seemed to be the worst thing she could've done, as a second later a group of strange-looking guard ponies came shuffling around a corner. It took Twilight a moment to realise why they were strange. The realization hit when one of the stallions lost a whole leg, but just continued his shuffle towards her, groaning mindlessly. Sections of his fur were missing, and in some cases, even his skin was gone, exposing muscle and bone.  
"Oh, sweet Celestia." Twilight exhaled, turning tail from the zombie ponies.

Spike shivered. The baby dragon paced the ground beside a fence at Sweet Apple Acres, waiting impatiently for Twilight to return. She had left him at the castle, and he had been woken up by Royal Guards ushering him here, of all places. It only took the journey through Ponyville to realise something really bad was happening. Delta had been among the guards, partially carried by the Captain, Arrow. Spike knew Arrow to be a fun pony to hang out with. Being stuck in the castle a lot meant he got to talk to the guards whenever he wanted. The majority of Twilight's guard were kind, funny stallions and mares. It was a huge contrast from Celestia and Luna's Royal Guard, who were usually uptight. Cadance and the Crystal Empire had that Flash Sentry-colt, and Twilight was certainly fond of him.  
Spike found his worry escallating. She was taking way too long to get here.  
He didn't know what he'd do if something happened to Twilight. Where would he go? How would anypony cope? Twilight was such an essential part of everypony's lives. If she were torn away without a second thought, it would destroy him.

"You alright, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked the worried-looking dragon, trotting past with a bucket of apples for some hungry ponies. She jolted the bucket in such a way that an apple was knocked out for Spike. He caught it easily.  
"Not really, but thanks." The baby dragon sighed. He took a bite out of the apple. Spike didn't notice the tear forming in the air behind the fence, and how it exposed the pitch blackness of the Void, barely covered by a thin layer of the magical barrier. It was stretching thin.

* * *

_Serious issues now! Things happening left, right n' centre! But, at least you know where Discord is now. He is one of the main characters, after all. He couldn't just disappear into thin air._  
_Fighting Eris, his R63'd self? That's gotta be difficult._  
_Anyway, see y'all next time!_


	15. Chapter 15

_Okay, so I realised a while ago that this story was gonna be longer than 'BTiM'. However, I had no idea it'd get more views than it! Last time, every new chapter brought roughly 100 views. That meant chapter ten had 1000, chapter fourteen had 1400, and so on. This one, however... it's on what, chapter fifteen now? It has almost exactly 1700! (1699, last I checked.) So, um... thanks. That's not at all humbling... ^3^_

* * *

Chapter Fifteen (Because Chapter Titles. That's Why.)

Twilight skidded round a corner of Canterlot Castle, her heart pounding, mane and tail trailing out behind her. Everything that could've gone wrong _had_ gone wrong. Imposter Princesses, zombie ponies, Equestria being torn apart at the seams...  
A horrid thought occured to Twilight. What if the magical bubble-thing Time Turner had told her about had seams? Weak points? She shook the thought from her head. If she was to avoid these creatures that defied nature, she had to stay as focused as possible. They weren't fast, but they were resilient. They kept on pushing. Kept on following. She had to lose them somehow.  
Focusing her energy, gathering the magical power from around her, Twilight began her teleportation spell. It grew in strength, beginning at her horn and encompasing her entirely in light, just as she raced around yet another corner. She was face-to-face with a pink mare missing half the flesh on her face and a horrible, deep hole where one of her eyes should've been. Her long mane draped over the better half of her face, barely concealing one terrifyingly wide blue eye. The mare's mouth, dripping blood, was twisted upward in a smile so horrific that Twilight wanted to throw up. Then, Twilight was at Sweet Apple Acres. She screamed. The whole thing had taken place in the blink of an eye.

Twilight's scream had drawn a crowd of terrified ponies, wondering if something bad had finally happened in their last place of refuge. Even more ponies gathered when they realised who had just teleported amongst them. The crowd murmered worriedly at Twilight, who had her stomach pressed to the ground, hooves over her eyes, wings covering her head.  
There was a disturbance in the crowd as some ponies pushed their way through. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Delta, Spike, Time Turner and Mech each forced their way into the centre. When they spotted Twilight, Time Turner and Spike bent down to her.  
"Twilight? Twilight, are you okay?" Spike asked, panic seizing him.  
"It's okay, we're here. Everything's okay." Time Turner comforted, waiting for her to open up. Finally, Twilight raised her head. Spike gasped.  
"Twilight! You look like you've seen a ghost, dear!" Rarity exclaimed. This seemed to disturb the purple alicorn further. She was quaking with fear.  
"Alright, nothing to see here. Move along. Go have some of AJ's apples." Rainbow turned on the crowd, ushering them away. "C'mon, bring Twi inside. Let Zecora and Fluttershy take a look at her."

Inside the Apple Family Home, they'd set up a makeshift medical centre. Fluttershy, Zecora and a few volunteers were helping ponies recover from any injuries they'd suffered during the chaos. It wasn't much, but it helped.  
"Just through here." Bon Bon directed the small group of ponies into the kitchen, where the main treatment area was. Fluttershy glanced up at the arrival of her friends with a wary smile, but it quickly vanished once she spotted Twilight.  
"Oh goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "Bring her over at once!"  
Twilight was led over to the impromptu examination table that she was made to sit on. It was all a bit disconnected to Twilight. She felt numb to her situation.  
"Now... what happened after you got to Canterlot, Twilight?" Time Turner asked.  
"Well, I... I teleported into the castle..." Twilight began her explanation, her voice shakey and weak.

"Oh my!" Rarity couldn't hold back her exclamation at Twilight's description of the _thing_ she'd seen before teleporting.  
"That sounds almost like a sad Pinkie Pie. Remember when she thought we hated her and her mane went flat?" Rainbow Dash reminded them, trying to act nonchalant in her mention of Pinkie. The mare tripped over her friend's name, however.  
Twilight shuddered. She remembered the crazy pony that Pinkie had become before. There was no way she was going to believe that thing was Pinkie. Just a coincidence.

A while had passed since Twilight first arrived. She had stopped shaking, thankfully. A thought occured to her.  
"Did Time Turner tell you all about the magical bubble that's protecting our world?" Twilight asked. There was a varied response of nodding and some startled looking faces. Turner explained it yet again, along with the theory that with a magical boost, the bubble could fix everything.  
"The only problem is, I was expecting to get the other Princesses on board with this. Without the other alicorns, it might be impossible. We might not have enough power." Twilight explained.  
"Well, what about other unicorns?" Rarity asked. Twilight sighed.  
"It still might not be enough." The alicorn replied with a resigned smile. "But we have to try."  
"Wait, Princess Twilight!" Time Turner's son, Mech, spoke up. He had been following his dad around ever since they'd gone to Sweet Apple Acres.

The group of ponies turned to look at Mech. He shared a glance with Time Turner, who encouraged him with a nod.  
"Um, when you guys came around earlier, I was working on my magic enhancer." He began. Twilight's eyes grew in size in seconds. "I-I mean, it was _designed_ to help keep the clock tower going if we ever left. But it works as a magic enhancer. My friend Dinky proved that."  
"Dinky? As in Dinky Hooves? Derpy's daughter?" Delta asked, a wide grin on her face.  
"Uh, yeah." Mech responded. Delta's resulting squee made Rainbow Dash take a step away from her.  
"Mech, this is brilliant!" Twilight cried, picking the little pegasus up in her arms and squeezing him. Once she realised she was crushing him, she released him. "Oh- sorry."  
"The magic enhancer wouldn't happen to be all the way across Ponyville in the clock tower, would it?" Delta pointed out.  
"Umm... I think so." Mech realised with a sigh.

"Alright. I'll go and get it, then." Twilight decided, taking a step toward the kitchen door.  
"Whoa, no way Twi." Rainbow flew in front of her, blocking her path. "First of all, you're still weak. Second of all, we need you. You're the last alicorn, and we need you to power up this magic enhancer. I'll go. I'm the fastest flier around!" The cyan pegasus smirked.  
Twilight was about to argue, but it dawned on her that Rainbow was right.  
"Just... be careful, okay Dash?" Applejack smiled up at her friend.  
"Always am, AJ!" The two mares shared a bro-hoof, before Rainbow took off, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.  
There was a squeak and a bright flash, and each pony turned their head to the source. It didn't take long for them to realise what had happened.  
"Oh no, our dear Fluttershy has gone! Something has happened that is terribly wrong..." Zecora stared at the place her assistant-stroke-friend had just been standing, worry creasing her forhead.

Fluttershy cried out in fear. She could not move. Instead, she was trapped by... an eagle claw?  
The pegasus glanced up, expecting the kind face of Discord, finally returned from wherever he'd gone, with explanations and hugs and forgiveness all around.  
Instead, Fluttershy was face-to-face with a very effeminite Discord. This _female_ Discord confused Fluttershy way too much. For one, his- no, _her_- eyes were staring down at her cruelly.  
"Release her at once!" The familiar voice of the regular, _male_ Discord brought a huge, hopeful smile to Fluttershy's face. She turned in her yellow prison to see the male draconequus glaring at the female one with a venom she'd never seen.  
"Oh? Now why would you want that? This thing is just a pony. A wimpy pegasus at that." The female draconequus' voice dripped with sarcasm as she held Fluttershy up to her face. "Oh, look! She's got a butterfly-butt! Definitely a wimp."  
"Eris! If you do not release her, you'll regret every word that comes out of your horrid face!" Discord demanded, his eyes blazing dangerously. Fluttershy watched in awe as his anger grew in intensity, yet he still did not strike.

"Now now, Discord! If I didn't know any better, I'd be forced say you _cared_ for this little filly!" Eris smirked. That appeared to be the final straw. Discord was suddenly in Eris' face.  
"You will let her go _now_." His voice was deep and dangerously calm. Fluttershy couldn't contain a shiver.  
"Oh, well in _that_ case..." Eris released her grip on Fluttershy with a smirk. The pegasus' wings unfurled to slow her descent, and she landed atop a giant candycane protruding from the ground. Meanwhile, Discord was distracted. Eris built up her own ball of chaos energy and before Discord could blink, he had been thrown backwards by the blast, knocking him into a huge ice cream cone and shattering the cone itself.  
"Discord!" Fluttershy cried.

* * *

_Yaaay! There's still stuff to be resolved! I love when that happens! Just so you know, I usually write the characters in a situation, then use their thinking processes to come up with a solution. In most cases, I have no idea how they'll get out of them. In the rare instances I know before writing them, I feel like it's so blindingly obvious! Oh well. I could be wrong. Anyway, I'll see you next time!_


	16. Chapter 16

_Well, lemme just say how much I appreciate you all. I know I do this fairly often, but I just need you all to know you are appreciated. Sorry, that's fairly cheesy, but to be honest..? I don't really care. You guys matter, and that's final!_  
_...Um, okay. Enjoy!_

_And Anon? If you want a sequel to the sequel, you'll get one! I just need to come up with something good enough first._

* * *

Things Happen

The ponies at Sweet Apple Acres were restless. None of them could do anything. With Rainbow Dash gone to get the amplifier and Fluttershy missing, none of them knew how to approach the situation. They could only wait for something else to happen. Applejack spent her time giving out food and drink to ponies scattered around the barn. There was a constant stream of hungry ponies wanting just a little bit more, or just one more apple, so she was kept on her toes- er, _hooves_.  
During her rounds, she had found a terrified-looking Sweetie Belle tucked into a hay bale. A quick discussion proved what Applejack had feared. Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had vanished in Ponyville. They had been in Sugarcube Corner when it disappeared. Struggling to keep her brave face, AJ led the scared filly back to her big sister. Rarity was beyond grateful, showering her little sister in tight hugs and kisses. The sight tugged at Applejack's heart.

Zecora and her team of volunteer ponies dealt with the worst of the injured ponies in the kitchen, then led them through to the living room to recover by the fire. The living room was beginning to grow crowded. It was up to some of the volunteers to clear out some of the better off ponies.  
"This work harbours a terrible sting. I hope no further injuries this disaster brings." Zecora sighed, letting herself collapse into a chair as yet another pony with a broken hoof was led through to the impromptu recovery room. With only her limited supply of herbs, Zecora's usually potent healing methods were worth nought. She was grateful then that Twilight Sparkle was tending to the worse-off with some basic healing spells, Spike at her side.

Time Turner and Mech were discussing the old days with happy smiles. Turner's smile was tainted by sorrow and regret, however. The father-son duo were so happy before all of this happened. They had countless friends in Ponyville. The clocktower was functioning perfectly. They were finally getting over the loss of Time Turner's wife, Mech's mother. Well, Time Turner was finally getting over her, with the help of Mech. He had taken it badly those few years ago. Mech had been relatively young, so he didn't have many memories of the beautiful mare that had brought him into the world.  
Time Turner would tell the young pegasus stories about the fair maiden that had stolen his heart all that time ago, punctuated by shining eyes. They shone with awe as they remembered her brilliance, while tears threatened to spill over and ruin his composure.

Nowadays, Time Turner's stories held just enrapturement. He was still haunted by her beauty, but no longer did sadness taint his view.  
Only now that Equestria was on the verge of being ripped out of existence did Time Turner feel all the pain that not letting go had forced upon him. He should've moved on long ago.  
Twilight trotted out of the Apple Family Home, carrying a book of healing spells she'd somehow conjured into the barn where a few injured ponies went when they were kicked out of the house. Time Turner's eyes followed Twilight as she entered the barn.  
Yes, he should've moved on long ago.

Delta was growing ever more anxious as time wore on. With no sign of either Discord nor Fluttershy, she was terrified that something awful had happened. The way Fluttershy had disappeared was reminiscent to a teleportation spell, despite her not being a unicorn. The thought had crossed her mind that the draconequus had found a way through the barriers and Void to somewhere safe, then taken Fluttershy with him. That thought was all at once comforting and heartbreaking. At least with everypony she knew nearby, if the magic apmplifier plan failed she could say goodbye.  
Now, if something happened, she'd never get to say goodbye to her two closest friends.  
As she was thinking these thoughts, a wave of nausea swept over her and she was jolted from her place high up in the barn. The feeling of falling- while familiar- caught her off-guard.  
She disappeared in a bright flash.

"Stop it now, Eris!"  
Delta shook herself, but found she was constrained by something. Something strange. Her eyes cleared after the first shock of teleporting (luckily she was over the whole headache thing) and she realised she was dangling upside down. She could not move because she was being held by... _snakes._ Over... a _pit of lava_.  
Delta let out a strangled cry of fear as she wriggled in her prison. Heat radiated upward from the bubbling pit of the dangerous molten rock. The snakes that held her hissed in her face, but remained tight around her. They did not crush her, and they did not bite her. If it weren't for her immediate, life-threatening situation, she might've questioned that.  
"Discord, you care for _two_ ponies? My, my." A troll-y voice crooned slyly. It had a certain tone to it that Delta recognised from many a fan-video on _YouTube_. A sinking feeling gripped her stomach.  
"Discord! What is Eris doing here?" Delta cried, spotting the male draconequus (upside down) in a protective stance in front of Fluttershy. Delta gasped all of a sudden. "Fluttershy!"

Her two friends glanced at Delta. Fluttershy looked both relieved and terrified. Discord was clearly puzzled.  
"How do you know who I am?" A face Delta recognised instantly as the genderbent version of Discord, Eris, appeared in front of her, tilted to match her upside-down imprisonment.  
"I know a lot of things you don't." Delta smirked, realising all of a sudden she had a few very important weapons she could use against the Queen of Chaos. A look of realisation dawned on Discord's face, followed quickly by a smirk.  
"Bringing her here was your worst decision, Eris. In fact, it may have just lost you the game." Discord grinned triumphantly.  
"Damn, I lost the Game!" Delta hissed to herself. One of the snakes hissed back in annoyance.  
"Oh really? And why is that?" Eris asked, a disbelieving smile adorning her face as she watched Discord. He stumbled a little, but regained his composure in seconds, like he'd never fallen.  
"Because she's the reason you're here. She knows you better than you know yourself." Discord inspected his claw nonchalantly, as if they had nails. Delta's eyes widened as she stared at Discord.  
No, she really didn't! She knew next to nothing about Eris! Maybe a few interesting trivia pieces, but nothing she could use against the female draconequus.

"Are you claiming her to be some sort of _God_?" Eris smirked. It seemed 'smirk' was the default expression on most draconequui.  
"Oh, of course not. She just knows who you are, where you came from, the details of your life so far and... hmm, what else? Oh, that's right. She knows how to defeat you." Discord explained calmly with- you guessed it- a smirk.  
"Really? Well then. I suppose we don't need her to talk." Eris zipped Delta's mouth shut. The brown pegasus really wished Discord would stop talking. He was going to get her killed at this rate. "And just in case, perhaps she needs a little dip." Eris added. Suddenly, the snakes were gone. Delta was falling at an alarming pace toward the lava.  
Then she remembered she was a pegasus.  
Eris watched in amusement as the blue-maned mare flew up into her face, her expression angry. Delta was ranting at the female draconequus, her words falling into muffled cries of annoyance when they came into contact with her sealed-shut mouth.  
An idea struck her. The one thing she did know about Eris was that she hadn't been reformed by Butterscotch yet, the genderbent version of Fluttershy that no doubt resided in Eris' world. She had nopony to fight for. This meant her temper was short, and an angered creature with nothing to fight for but chaos was a foolish creature. Blinded by anger and made arrogant by solitude, Eris was going to be easy to defeat.

Rainbow Dash soared through Ponyville faster than anypony else could have, her wings working overtime to get to the clocktower in time. The structure wasn't easy to miss, since it rose above most of the buildings in the little town by a fair bit. The cyan pegasus entered from the topmost part of the tower, through an open window. It was only as she descended the stairwell as fast as a rainbow that she realised she had no idea what a magic amplifier looked like, nor where she'd find it. She really hoped Mech had labelled it.

The pegasus scanned the interior of what was clearly the workshop, searching for something, _anything_, that could be used as a magic amp. As time wore on, Rainbow began to realise the futility. She had no way of knowing if any of the contraptions were the right ones, or even if the specific one was still in the workshop.  
Suddenly, Dash stopped. Something in her memory jolted to life. She had visited the clocktower once before, with a few of the girls. It was when Time Turner had invited a few ponies from Ponyville in to take a brief tour. Mech had his own workshop, further up in the tower! It was close to the clockwork and bound to be where the magis amp-thing was. It was Rainbow's last hope, and consequently Equestria's last hope.  
With that, Rainbow was gone, in search of the thing that would save the world.

"Okay, it was funny at first. Now it's just annoying." Eris swatted at the pegasus as Delta zipped around the Queen of Chaos' head at her fastest speed.  
"Stop it." Eris snapped. "Really, stop. Stop, stop, _stop_!" Suddenly, blue flames engulfed the ground around the group of draconequui and pegasi. Eris appeared to be enraged now. Delta zipped over to Discord, who unsealed her jaws with a snap of his claws. While Eris built up her energy further, ready to end it all in a bang, Delta had time to whisper one word to Discord. One word to spur him on. One word to make him fight til victory. It was the cheesiest thing she could think up, but it made all the difference to Discord. _Fluttershy_.  
Delta was left with Fluttershy, who was watching the whole thing with wide eyes. Discord had been off like a shot, starting off by dodging Eris' tackle. The rest of the fight was blurred and frankly terrifying to both pegasi. Purple lightning and green sparks shot out of the battlescene, followed by flaming pink ducks and inverted sandwiches. It occured to Delta that the brown smudges that moved about were in fact Eris and Discord. The clash was so blindingly fast that Fluttershy and Delta barely had time to land before Discord was thrown backward, skidding along the ground until he came to a stop by the hooves of the two mares. The draconequus struggled to his paw and claw, panting heavily. He took a second to heal a few of his injuries before he became a blur again.

Fluttershy and Delta watched in alarm as one blur hit the other eleven times in quick succession. It was impossible to tell from where the two ponies stood which blur was who. They could only stand by and hope Discord was winning. Hearts pounding, unable to tell who was winning. Delta really didn't like it. Her eyes barely had time to keep up with one of the blurs now. The other was being beaten badly. Delta didn't want to assume anything, so she kept her hope at bay.  
Delta blinked. In the second she'd blinked, she must have missed something, as a shockwave swept past, knocking the two pegasi back and rustling the trees behind them. Ears ringing, Delta glanced around for Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus was staggering to her hooves already, staring with one eye closed at the blurred combat. For a gutwrenching second, Delta assumed something had happened to Fluttershy's eye. Instead, after a moment, she blinked it open. It was a little red, but otherwise undamaged.  
"Are you okay, Fluttershy?" Delta asked, stumbling toward her friend.  
"Oh, yes. I'm fine. I got some dust in my eye, but-" Fluttershy glanced at Delta, to stop and cry out. "Delta, your leg!"

Delta frowned, glancing at her right hoof, following it up her leg until- oh, okay. A huge splinter of red-and-white striped candycane was embeded just below her shoulder. It appeared to come out the other side. Blood was already beginning to pool on the ground beneath her. Only now was the pain beginning to register in her mind.  
"Oh. That hurts." Delta stared at it, bemused at the throbbing pain that demanded to be felt.

* * *

_Okay, yes, I may have dragged this thing on a little longer than I should have. Hey, on the bright side, that means next chapter is a guaranteed explosion of awesome! Guess how long you have to wait for that? That's right, the whole weekend. Going to my Dad's again, so no more updates for a few days. I know, I have the best timing!_

_Anyway, I'll see you all on Sunday (hopefully!). If you've begun my Star Trek fanfic, 'The Q Problem', expect an update later tonight/this morning!_


	17. Chapter 17

_Okay, so I promised epic. And like Cheese Sandwich at Rainbow's party, I will provide! Granted, this may end up being a very short or very long chapter (I should edit this sentence after writing the chapter, but I may forget!) so I guess we'll have to wait and see!_  
_Next part of 'Books and Promises' will be up on my Tumblr tomorrow, if all goes well._

_Now, without further adieu, here's the epic chapter! It's not the finale, just so you know._

* * *

The Final Struggle

Rainbow Dash literally stumbled over something important in her search for the magic amp. The cyan pegasus grumbled as she examined her hoof, checking for any injuries. When none were apparant, Dash glared daggers at the object she'd tripped over. The second she got a good look at it, however, she frowned. It looked like someone had taken part of a trumpet and attached it to a giant speaker, with wires trailing out either end. Attached to one of the set of wires was what looked like a crank.  
After a quick glance around the workshop, Rainbow sighed. It was the best she could do without any previous knowledge of the device, or how Mech's magic-mechanic stuff worked for a non-unicorn. It was all she could do not to call it an egghead gadget.  
Rainbow hauled the surprisingly heavy device into her hooves and took to the air, with the intention of bringing it back to the others. If she got it wrong, at least she'd be able to ask what the thing actually looked like.

"Rainbow!" Mech called out, spotting the rainbow-maned pegasus as she flew through the air like a rocket. The colt watched with wide eyes as she carried the contraption in her _hooves_ toward the ground. Time Turner and Mech raced over to lend her a hoof as she let it fall to the ground gently.  
"Is... this... it?" Rainbow panted, doubled over from exhaustion.  
"Oh, yes it is!" Mech exclaimed in excitement. "Dad, go get Twilight!" Time Turner nodded and galloped off into the barn.  
By now, other ponies dotted around the yard had overheard their excited talking. A small crowd formed and drew closer to the device. Whispers of 'what is it?' and 'does it play music?' were spread around the ponies present as they waited for something to happen.  
Time Turner reappeared, joined by Twilight and a small collection of curious ponies.

"Everypony, this is a magic amplifier." Twilight announced. "It could be used to save Equestria." A few disbelieving murmers and unconvinced rumors floated through the crowd, joined by a few cheers. Although sparse, the cheers spurred Twilight on. "Mech, would you like to explain how it works?"  
The young blonde colt blinked, but stood up tall. He seemed to absorb the attention like a sponge, and it wasn't long until he was beaming.  
"Fillies and gentlecolts; stallions and mares! I have here a device that was designed to absorb the magical energy from the pipes in the clocktower and amplify it, so it could last longer without the maintenance of two non-unicorns with very little magical ability. In a way, it's similar to a repeater-" Mech's excited speech fell short as he realised how uninterested most of the crowd was. A few of the older ponies were in shock that such a young colt could be using such complex phases.

Mech cleared his throat and shrugged off his embarassment, then dove right back into his speech, full enthusiasm back. "The technical jargon isn't important. What is, is that this device can amplify any unicorn's magic to at least double its regular capacity! That means any magic is twice as powerful. Especially alicorn magic." Mech smiled warmly at Twilight, who lowered her head a little. The weight of Mech's sudden charisma knocked Twilight off a little. He'd always been a brave colt, but this was a huge step.  
"You may have notices the issues going on around us right now. About how Equestria seems to be doomed. Well, I'm here to say that _will not happen_. Our world is protected by a magical barrier at all times. Right now, it's pretty weak. If we give it a boost, say with some _amplified magic_, it could make everything alright again! So, if we could have every unicorn over on the right, that'd be great. Um, Twilight?" Mech seemed to retreat a little, a gleam of joy still in his eyes. The alicorn nodded.

"Mech is right. This is our chance to save Equestria. To do that, we need every single unicorn to contribute their magic." Twilight watched the crowd of ponies. With a start, she realised how scared and weak they were. This was the remainder of Ponyville - a ragtag group of survivors filled with injured ponies and ponies in emotional distress. As individuals, they wouldn't be able to save themselves, let alone Equestria.  
But as a unit; as a herd, they were strong. They could take on any foe. Ponyville ponies were the most resilient group out there. In their most desperate moments, they could pull together. They could call upon old friendships and unite to save Equestria from certain destruction.  
This, truly, was the magic of friendship.

"D-Delta, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, eyes wide and full of horror.  
"For now, yes. Uh, I'm bleeding a lot though so I might pass out at some point. If that happens, find help if you can. If you can't don't worry about it." Delta's voice shook as she explained as calmly as she could. Surpressing panic was the hardest thing. Next to that, the pain was merely a flesh wound.  
"Y-you could pass out?!" Fluttershy was a little worse at the whole 'not panicking' thing, however. Her squeak of fear rose in volume as Delta allowed herself to crumple to the ground.  
"It's okay. I'm just resting. If I keep my heartrate down, then I'll last longer. I hope." Delta sighed, realising too late she'd lain down in a puddle of her own blood. "Eugh."

The candycane spike that protruded from both sides of Delta's leg looked like a weird accessory as Delta manouvred to stop the would stretching. So far, the spike was keeping the bloodflow down. However, if it wasn't treated soon, Delta would lose most of her leg.  
Inhaling and exhaling slowly helped her to keep her cool, but the raging battle nearby was a huge distraction from trying not to fall unconscious due to bloodloss.  
Delta had the curious urge to lick the candycane to see if it was as it appeared.  
As Delta watched the blurs fight, she realised it wasn't really a fight anymore. One blur was relentlessly attacking the other, non-moving shape that had at some point stopped fighting. Showers of applejuice and red lemonade rained down infrequently on the two pegasi. With her new injury, Delta's optimism was draining away like bathwater disappearing down the plughole. She could not believe that the winning draconequus would be Discord. He had seemed injured when Delta first arrived. Even with his healing abilities, he'd said it was possible for him to die. Her brain was a little foggy, but he'd claimed he was a mortal immortal.

The unicorns, led by Twilight Sparkle, were grouped together around the magic amplifying device. It was leaning up against a fence, pressed up as close as possible to the worst of the rips they had found once they searched Sweet Apple Acres. Mech had suggested they had a source of contact with the barrier so they'd have somewhere to point the other end once it was pumped up with magic.  
The group of unicorns were a small bunch, consisting of a few familiar faces like Sweetie Belle, Rarity, Lyra and Dinky.  
They were ready to begin.  
Twilight breathed deeply for a moment, absorbing as much of the magic around her as she could.  
"Okay, everypony. On the count of three." Twilight called. "One..." The unicorns braced themselves, tensing every muscle, ready. "...two..." Twilight's eyes scrunched shut in concentration as she prepared. "...three!"

Delta froze. She couldn't move. Literally _couldn't_ move. She felt a surge of something within her she couldn't name. It was powerful, and filled her with the warmth of a thousand hugs. It bubbled to the surface of the pegasus, and suddenly she was completely oblivious to her surroundings. She was in the air, wings spread wide, eyes closed. If she'd been aware, she would've noticed the same thing happening to Fluttershy.  
If any of them had noticed their surroundings, all the remaining ponies in Equestria would've seen they were all united somehow. All creatures united on a planet that runs on harmony.  
It was exactly what the barrier needed.  
With a whoosh, a huge purple bubble expanded from the centre of the planet, working its way outward, banishing everything that did not belong, wiping out everything in its way that did not harmonise with the rest of the world.  
It was incredible.

Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship and Harmony, had united everypony in the cause of defending Equestria, and everypony had answered. All across the planet, rifts were sealed. Alien objects were sent back to their places of origin. Ultimately, the barriers were stitching themselves together again.  
Finally, the dust settled, literally and figuratively. Everypony and everything became aware again.  
Delta struggled to her hooves, forgetting the candycane shard for now. All she cared about was finding her friends.  
"F-Fluttershy?" Delta called, finally spotting the yellow pegasus. She was still recovering from the experience, clearly, but she was alright.

Then Delta glanced at the calm battlescene. Nothing moved. Eventually, Delta spotted a brown and grey shape slumped on the ground in the distance. It did not move.  
Terror gripping her, Delta decided to leave Fluttershy to recover. Sneaking away, Delta flew over to the unmoving shape, her stomach dropping like a stone. Landing was tricky with three hooves, but at the moment she didn't care. She couldn't care less.  
"Discord?" Delta's voice was weak and wobbly, dangerously close to breaking point. The pegasus limped over. "Discord?"  
To Delta's relief, she saw the draconequus' chest rise and fall. He was breathing, thank Celestia. To her surprise, a wound on Discord's back healed itself before her eyes. As she stared, the Lord of Chaos twisted to look at the injured pegasus.  
"Sweet Celestia, Delta! What did you _do_?!" Discord cried, struggling to sit up. It was then that Delta realised her stomach fur was matted with her own dried blood. Aside from the whole candycane situation, of course.

"Well I got stabbed by a Holiday favourite of mine, if that's what you're referring to, you blind draconequus." Delta smiled.  
"With that attitude, I might not fix you at all then, Human." Discord sniffed in mock distain.  
"Good, because it means I won't have to deal with _you_ again, Dissy." Delta rolled her eyes. Then the pain caught up to her and she winced.  
"Okay, okay, hold still. This won't take but a second." Discord sighed. With a flash, the candycane was gone, leaving just a bloodied leg and a flesh wound on either side of her leg.  
"What do you call that?" Delta cried, staring at her still-injured leg.  
"I call that two cool scars to show off, you ungrateful pony." Discord grumbled.  
"Ungrateful? You said you'd fix me! Not leave me with scars!" Delta snapped.  
"I never said I'd fix you; I told you to hold still. That doesn't sound like 'I'll fix you' to me. I don't know why I even bother." Discord muttered.  
"You useless piece of- Ugh! Why do I have to put up with you?"  
Suddenly Discord pulled Delta into a hug.  
"Thank you." The draconequus whispered. Delta just smiled.

Discord pushed Delta away like she had the plague all of a sudden.  
"That is _not_ a regular thing, okay?" Discord snapped.  
"Reserved for times when I almost die?" Delta grinned. Discord just sighed. "I can agree to that so long as you tell Fluttershy." Delta watched as the little yellow pegasus staggered to her hooves, shaking a little.  
Discord watched the pink-maned mare with a soft smile. His eyes seemed to melt at the sight of her. Ears drooped down and eyebrows bent upward, the draconequus clearly adored her.  
"Which way is Sweet Apple Acres?" Delta whispered quickly. Discord pointed generally south. She excused him, given his infatuation-induced brainfog, and took to the air. She needed to give the two ponies some space. If Discord was to fulfil his end of the deal, they had to be alone. Medling was useless if she never left them alone together, after all.

* * *

_Woo! So, on that bombshell, it's time to end. I've been writing for a while now, so unless you want me to fall asleep on the keyboard to get a consistant stream of the letter 'g', I'm gonna end the chapter. Next chapter we look into resolutions and tying up some knots. That still won't be the last chapter, but it marks the end of the main story arc. Everything after (and there won't be a lot) will simply be calming down to the end._

_Since a sequel to the sequel was requested, I'll see if I strike gold digging around in some of my other ideas for different stories. If I can't find anything amazing, I'll pull the '50 years later' card or something. In that case, it'd take a dark turn._  
_Unless you guys have an idea or two, of course! Whatever you want to read, it can be done!_  
_I'll see you next time!_


	18. Chapter 18

_GAH I know almost every chapter I use a sentence or two to tell you all how huch I appreciate you. This time, though, I need some better phrases. Hm... adoration? Awe? Amazing humblingness that makes me wanna dance/cry? Yeah I think the latter explains my emotions a little better. You're all just so brilliant! If I could hug each reader individually, I would._  
_Every single review is like a bubble of happiness. Even when I look back at 'BTiM', which I do often by the way, I just can't not love you guys._

_I'm sorry, I'm being sappy! Anyway, enough about me. More about the namesake of this story! Enjoy!_

* * *

Back to Normal

Ponies at Sweet Apple Acres muttered amongst each other, a little unsure as to what their efforts had done. Twilight was being cared for while she recovered from repairing the barrier. The process hadn't gone quite as planned, but the result seemed good enough. None of the rifts that had formed were visible, so ponies were assuming all was well.  
None of them could explain what had happened clearly, but everypony knew. Whatever it was had connected each of them together. The whole world harmonising.  
Slowly, ponies were beginning to trickle away, in search of their homes. Rarity and Sweetie were halfway home when a bouncing thing knocked into the pair of unicorn sisters.  
"Do watch where you're going!" Rarity complained, dusting off her coat.  
"Oh, I'm sorry Rarity. I didn't see you there! Do you know where the girls are? I have a craaaaazy story to tell you!" Rarity gasped at the familiarity of the voice.  
"P-Pinkie Pie?!" The purple-maned mare's eyes widened as she confirmed the voice to be that of a bubbly pink mare.  
"Of course it's me, silly! Unless..." Pinkie gasped in shock. "What if you don't remember me? Or... am I in disguise? Ooh, I hope it's a funny disguise! I like funny disguises. They're so funny!" Pinkie giggled.

Ponyville seemed to be relatively back to normal, though some minor repairs would need to be done all over town. Everywhere, ponies reunited with their friends and relatives in the streets. Ponies gathered in excited herds, talking about their experiences outside Equestria and even in alternate worlds. It would take some time, but eventually the town would return to the way it was before, if a little closer.  
The same was to be said all across Equestria and beyond. Ponies and zebras and griffins and other creatures were united forever. The love and compassion they shared would help to protect the world for as long as it was needed.

Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Zecora, Rainbow Dash, Time Turner, Mech, Granny Smith and Big Mac were the last ponies present. They were either recovering or helping tidy up after the events that had taken place.  
It was as AJ and Big Mac were cleaning out the barn that Delta arrived from wherever she'd disappeared to.  
"Delta! You're back! D'you know where Fluttershy is? 'Cause we still can't find that lil' filly." Applejack asked, trotting up to her friend. Her eyes widened suddenly. "Whoah, Sugarcube! What happened t'you?"  
Delta glanced down sheepishly at her blood-coated underside and leg.  
"It's a long story. I'm fine, and Fluttershy's fine. She and Discord should be along in a moment." The brown pegasus smiled. AJ raised a curious eyebrow at Delta's last sentence, a knowing smile creeping up her face.  
"Ah see, Sugarcube. No need t'say any more." The farmpony winked, before trotting back to Big Mac. She turned her head around for a moment to add something. "If y'all need some help with that leg, jus' find Zecora!"  
Delta nodded in reply, but was internally high-fiving herself that her predictions came true. AJ had spotted the connection.

Discord had to heal his injures individually, so everything took just a little longer than it should have. Wounds inflicted by himself but female were strangely difficult to heal. Still, Discord spent his time watching the little yellow pegasus with admiration. She seemed to have found the whole 'harmony' thing a little taxing, so she was taking a little longer to right her spinning head.  
Fluttershy glanced up all of a sudden. A quick survey of the area around her proved that Delta was nowhere to be seen. However the puddle of dried blood remained, forcing a squeak out of the mare.  
Then her eyes shot up, wide and full of fear. The fight was over. It looked like everything was fixed. Birds sung in the trees nearby, filling her heard with hope that things might go back to normal.  
Of course, she chose that moment to spot Discord watching her. Her stomach filled with butterflies, and she realised that there _was_ no going back to the way things were. From the smile on the Spirit of Chaos' face, he had come to accept the same idea.

Unable to contain her tangeable happiness that wrapped around her like a blanket, Fluttershy broke into a full-fledged gallop toward the draconequus, past miscellanious items of chaos, past puddles of chocolate milk. She braced herself against the ground for a second, then propelled herself into the air, wings unfurling, so she would be able to hug the draconequus. The force of her impact knocked his paw and claw out from behind him, knocking him backward. After a beat, he returned the hug.  
It took Fluttershy a moment, but she quickly pulled away, cheeks bright pink.  
"Oh, I'm sorry Discord. I didn't mean to knock you over." The shy pegasus apologised from behind her mane. Discord responded with a chuckle.  
"I don't mind, my dear. It was quite a nice hug."  
There was a pause, in which both creatures waited for the other to speak. When neither did, both decided to speak at once.  
"I really like you-"  
"Sorry for being in such a state-"

Another silence passed, this one louder by miles than the last.  
"Wait, you... you like me?" Discord asked slowly, as if he were testing the words out for himself.  
"Um..." Fluttershy had a mini internal debate then as to whether she should do this now. Unfortunately for her mind, her heart didn't get the message. "...Yes. I-I do. I, um, I might even _love_ you."  
A very tense, very silent moment passed.  
"Well, I guess that's good." Discord replied breezily. He paused. "Because I am completely in love with you, my dear Fluttershy."

**o.O.o**

It was about a week after the resolution of the rifts, and Equestria was pretty much back to normal. The seven mares plus Time Turner and Discord were spread out over a picnic blanket, eating and swapping stories. Delta was still having a hard time not exploding with fangirl awe at the sight of Fluttershy in a sunhat decorated with flowers, leaning against Discord contentedly. The sight was enough to drive any Fluttercord shipper mad, and even the other ponies were happy with the way things worked out for the two of them. Of course, not all of Ponyville were so accepting, but at least most of them were mature enough not to confront them about it. After the whole 'united by harmony' thing, it took a great deal of effort for genuine fights to form.  
"So there's something I don't get." Rainbow Dash spoke up all of a sudden, gaining the attention of everypony with ease. "With the way everything was just fixed in a snap, why wasn't Delta sent back to her world?"

Time Turner cleared his throat, ready to answer. It was clear he'd thought a little about it.  
"Well, it wasn't a fix-it-all thing. While it certainly got rid of the foreign objects, the Harmony Wave didn't get rid of just anything. It connected everypony together and harmonised with them. Anything that didn't was swept away; back to where it came from. What I'm saying is that because Delta is a pony with strong friendships here, the Harmony Wave passed right on by. She deserves to be here just as much as you or I, according to Equestria." Time Turner smiled at the brown pegasus, who listened intently.  
"Huh, I suppose that makes sense. Sorta." Dash replied, munching on a cupcake courtesy of Pinkie Pie.  
"But with the barrier stronger than ever, it may be impossible for you to get home, Delta. I'm sorry, but we just can't take the risk of damaging the barrier again. Besides, I'm not even sure we could if we tried." Twilight explained with a sigh.  
Delta glanced around the group of ponies (plus the draconequus), examining each of their faces as the gazed at her with concern.  
"I know I belong back on Earth, but to be honest..." Delta's mouth twitched upward. "Equestria is so much more peaceful. Ponies are quicker to love than to hate. The connections I feel here are stronger than anything I've known. I miss my friends and my family, of course, but if I can't get back, there's nothing I can do."  
The other ponies nodded in agreement.  
"Exactly, darling. Why worry about something you cannot fix?" Rarity smiled, pouring a cup of tea as she spoke. A few of the ponies shared a glance at Rarity's words, but did not respond. It was pretty hypocritical of her.

As the day wore on and the sun eventually sank below the horizon, the ponies left for home. Delta, Discord and Fluttershy were back at the cottage. The light blue-maned mare was left alone in the living room, since it was pretty late. With a sigh, she gazed out of the window at the stars. Beyond everything she knew here, there existed another world. The world where she'd been born and raised as a bipedal creature with hands and feet known as a human. Back then, she'd had a different name. She'd had a different identity. Life was different, but perfect there. A part of her ached for that life back; knew she'd never be truly happy knowing she'd left behind so many wonderful ponies- no, wait, people.  
Rarity's advice had been spot on, however. Why worry about something she couldn't fix?  
It was with that thought echoing through her mind that Delta glanced away from the window and settled down to relax on the sofa. Before she knew what had happened, Delta was fast asleep.

* * *

_So yeah, chapter eighteen. I think the next chapter will be the last one, if my OCD doesn't force me to make a chapter twenty. _  
_I have some ideas for the sequel to the sequel, but they each play to my strengths (as pointed out by The Supreme Slurpinator) which are humour and possibly fluff, with less adventure. It'll still have a tad, since I enjoy writing it, but not a barage of 'Harmony ex machina' again. _  
_To be honest, it'll probably be a in-the-near-future fic, where everypony's a little older and things have progressed off-screen. _  
_Yeah, that's the most likely right now._  
_I'll see y'all next time!_


	19. Chapter 19

_Kay, so I have the main idea for the sequel in my head! I should come up with something clever for the title... A pun, maybe. Anyway, the way this story ends will tie it up in such a way that the sequel isn't necessary. You can read it if you want, but not reading it won't take away from this story. (Also, possible spin-off alert!)_  
_Funny story, though. There I was, drawing some Fluttercord fanart, when I glanced at the time. One minor panic-attack later, here I am, writing this! The moral of the story: Don't get carried away drawing fanart. It sucks away the time._  
_Anyway, enjoy the final chapter!_

* * *

The End (Again)

It was a few weeks after everything had been returned to normal, and life in Equestria couldn't be any more perfect. Delta was pretty much used to everything at this stage.  
She was currently on the hunt for a new home of her own, since living in the cottage alongside Fluttershy and Discord brought third-wheel feelings into her head. However, property-hunting in Equestria was a little harder than Delta would've expected. First, she needed bits to actually buy a house. Granted, they were much cheaper than houses on Earth, but currently Delta's bit-balance was a big fat zero. Secondly, there was the problem of location, location, location. She wanted to live somewhere around Ponyville, but also somewhere unique. Somewhere with access to roads would be great, too.  
It was all a bit much for a new-ish pony with not much experience.

Eventually, with Rarity's help, Delta found a lovely place by a stream. It had everything Delta wanted, plus it was pretty close to a calm spot of the Everfree. With her dream-house discovered, it now came to the problem of bits. Discord had offered to conjure up some currency with a snap, but stubborn Delta refused, deciding instead to find some sort of day-job.  
That was what led to Delta, head in her hooves, sitting on the couch in Fluttershy's cottage, groaning loudly about special talents.  
"I mean, my cutie mark is a _pocket watch_! What does that even mean?" She complained. "I'm not particularly efficient with time, nor do I like collecting pocket watches. What in Equestria could it _mean_? And how do I make money from it?"  
"Maybe you're supposed to be a conductor on a train?" Fluttershy suggested. "I saw a stallion with a similar cutie mark at the station a little while ago. Maybe that's your special talent."  
"Or maybe you're destined to always be late." Discord smirked. The draconequus was being as helpful as ever with his suggestions.

"Great." Delta sighed. "I feel like a blank-flank. I have a cutie mark, but I have no idea what it could mean."  
Fluttershy hmmed in thought for a moment, tapping a hoof against her chin, trying to look at it from another angle.  
"Well, how about you think about what you _know_ you're good at. Maybe you'll figure it out from that list." The yellow pegasus suggested with a smile.  
Delta tilted her head.  
"Actually, yeah. That might work." The blue-maned mare smiled. "And even if I can't figure out my cutie mark, I can think about what could earn me some bits."  
"So what in Celestia's name are you good at, Human?" Discord asked, one eyebrow raised.  
Delta's smile disappeared in an instant.  
"Uhh..." Her mind blanked. What _was_ she good at? "I suppose I can write. Grammar is very important to me, too. I can't just become an author overnight, though."  
"Oh. Well, why not?" Fluttershy asked.  
"Because I need to write a book first." Delta replied with a sigh.

"Um, what else are you good at?" Fluttershy inquired with a smile.  
"I like singing, I suppose, but I have stagefright, and I don't know if I'm any good at it. The same goes for drawing." The brown pegasus responded. "I enjoy some elements of history, and engineering, but I have next to no experience there." Delta dropped her forhead into her hooves again. "I don't know! None of those can earn me money! Not overnight, anyway."  
"My offer still stands." Discord reminded her. For a moment, Delta almost considered accepting. She remained silent, weighing her options.  
"I don't know. It seems a little cheaty, to be honest." Delta sighed.  
"Well how else are you going to get enough bits to buy that house before somepony else snatches it up?" The Spirit of Chaos pointed out. "How about I _loan_ you the money? I create it, then as you earn money doing whatever, you can 'pay me back'. By that, I mean I destroy it. That's fair."  
Delta sighed yet again in defeat.  
"Yeah, I suppose that is my only option. Thanks, Dissy."

**o.O.o**

Pinkie Pie bounced over the little wooden bridge that led over the stream as she made her way toward Delta's new home. Little did the brown pegasus know, she was about to be bombarded by party plans by the super-duper party pony named Pinkie.  
As it was, she was sitting inside at her desk, tapping away at her typewriter. It was a strange change from a laptop, but the contraption worked just as well. She already had the first few pages typed out, based on stories she'd written back on Earth. At the rate she was going, it wouldn't be long until she had a collection of short stories.  
A series of knocks on her front door distracted the mare, and Delta trotted over to see who it could be. Before she could even open the door, it flew open in a burst of confetti.  
"Hi, Delta! I can't help but notice you moved in already. You know what that means, right?" Pinkie beamed. Without giving Delta a chance to respond, the pink pony continued. "Of course you do! It means I need to throw you a housewarming party! Since it's your house, I wanted to see if it was okay with you. I found out not everypony is happy when they find a hundred strangers in their house... I would be, but I guess not everypony is me! That would be weird, if everypony was me. Anyway, would you like to have a housewarming party?" The pink pony practically vibrated in place, waiting for the chance to bounce around.  
"Uh, sure, I guess." Delta blinked, then broke into a smile. "Yeah, I'd love a party! When do you want it to be?"  
"I was thinking... today?" Pinkie asked.  
"Brilliant! Invite anypony you want!" Delta beamed, flapping her wings in excitement. A Pinkie Party to break in the new house was exactly what she needed.

Life in Equestria was perfect, to Delta. It really couldn't get much better. What with being surrounded by brilliant ponies, it was like living in a 'My Little Pony' episode every day. What was even better was she didn't even have to give up her writing. It was a win-win situation for her, despite the ache in her heart for the people she'd left behind. They would live on in her stories, and in her heart. She was sure they'd survive without her.  
Eventually, as time wore on, they would learn to live with her disappearance. Delta would be remembered by her friends and family on Earth, but they would never truly know where she'd gone. The police would give up their search after a few months, by request from her mother. Somehow, she knew that her daughter was safe. Wherever she had gone, she was happy.

Yes, life in Equestria was perfect.

* * *

_Aaaand that concludes 'Forcing Fluttercord'! I really hope you enjoyed it, and keep an eye out for the sequel to the sequel. It might be out this week! Though titles are a bit of an issue..._  
_Maybe 'Writing Equestria', or something similar to 'Begrudged Tolerance is Magic'. 'Gradual Tolerance is Magic'? 'More-Than-Friendship is Magic'? Or something slightly different? Any and all ideas are urgently required, since this is the last time I'll be addressing you all in 'Forcing Fluttercord'. _

_Goodbye for now, readers!_


End file.
